


Back to the Beginning (Revised)

by AssassinPyro13



Category: Left 4 Dead 2
Genre: Alternate Universe, Angst, Being Edited, Drama, Flashbacks, Gore, It's gonna happen, Loss of Limbs, M/M, Man on Man, Nick discovers a life changing secret, Nick has to go through the apocolypse again, Nick is a little OOC, Rochelle and Coach are related, Second Chance, Slash, That means gross squishy insides get to be on the outsides, Time Travel, Yaoi, being revised, disgusting images, graphic details of gore, graphic zombie gross things, it's a zombie story, possible death of a character, violance
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-09-18
Updated: 2015-06-12
Packaged: 2018-02-17 20:29:44
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 14
Words: 27,163
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2322200
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AssassinPyro13/pseuds/AssassinPyro13
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Nick remembered escaping. He remembered crossing the bridge while the city was being bombed. He even remembered getting on that damn helicopter and taking off. So why did he suddenly find himself back in Savannah, Georgia all alone and without his guns and completely scar free?</p><p> </p><p>  <strong>THIS STORY IS CURRENTLY BEING REVISED ONE CHAPTER AT A TIME! IF THE STORY CURRENTLY LOOKED MIXED UP, THAT'S WHY! I AM MAKING THIS STORY BETTER. Thank you for your time. Revised chapters will have (revised) in the titles.</strong></p>
            </blockquote>





	1. "Name's Nick" (Revised)

**Author's Note:**

> A/N: I'm not sure if this is going to be romance or friendship. It all depends on what you people want I guess. Anyway, please review this story because lately no one has been reviewing my stories and it makes me sad and think that they're lost causes so please, if you read this story, it doesn't matter if you're a member or not, please review. It keeps my spirits up and I continue with the story.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> THIS STORY IS BEING REVISED!!!! So if it currently seems out of place with the rest of the story, then that is why. I am editing this story, one chapter at a time!!! Thank you for your patience.

Prologue: "Name's Nick"

Nick remembered escaping that terrible bridge that night. He remembered crossing the zombie filled battle zone; team mates that he could proudly call friends, not too far behind him while the city was being bombed and debris shattering all around them. He even remembered getting on that damn helicopter and taking off with his heart unusually full of grief as the three sat there in silent mourning at the loss of their fourth companion. 

So why did he suddenly find himself back in Savannah, Georgia all alone and without his guns and completely scar free? Mind fuzzy and reeling from the backlash at finding himself at the heart of the infection all over again. Stumbling through the oddly empty streets, his concern was confirmed by the date of a passing newspaper that he managed to catch from it's trip through the wind. Nick remembered thinking out loud on the impossibility of it all, only to be proven wrong once more of the news that shone on a store tv. 

It shouldn't have even happened; should be against all sorts of laws of nature. There was no scientific way he could come up with how he ended up in the past without devolving in the mindset of science fiction. Yet here he was. Standing in the same casino he was in the first time around. Stuck in the middle of Savannah, the outbreak had started when he had scored his first successful gamble; or it did the first time it had happened. 

Even as he sat there, drinking his martini and allowing his mind to wonder and eyes scan over the people for any sign of infected, his mind was still unable to grasp it. When he first woke up in the casino, Nick had thought that maybe he had dreampt it all. Normally in dreams, what felt like months or year were merely hours in reality. But the sudden flashback of random attracts of the hordes and the suspicious guard his body held while in the presence of a large crowd was all too present. 

Nick would often find himself locking eyes with another person, staring them down like a hardened soldier after years in the military. It was all too real, all too there. His gaze had never been sharp as they had been now. People he remembered seeing on the zombies of his first go of this apocalypse flashed in his head every time a healthy human turned his way after a bout of laughter. They would never see the day to be old. He knew this. 

Children he would spot outside stung him the most. The Green Flu hadn't favored them in the slightest. In a way, Nick envied them. They would die not long after contracting the disease, their bodies unable to handle the sickness that stuck to adults like a plague; which in itself was ironic for it might as well be a plague and not categorized as a flu. 

Screaming had caught his attention, snapping him from his musing. Instantly setting his drink down, Nick instantly stood at attention, poised as if trained to deal with the situation he knew was happening. People who should be long dead, brushed past him and out of the casino to escape the hunter that had wondered in and mauled a poor woman that had been selling fruity alcoholic drinks. It was a sad sight to see; the woman was mauled from head to toe, long since thought dead by the special infected as it moved onto its next victim, who just so happened to be a poor woman in a frilly bunny outfit who was just doing her job.

The conman cursed to himself and ran to the casinos bar and grabbed the magnum pistol that he knew was under the bar counter and leapt into action, shooting the hunter with one bullet to its head. When the apocalypse first happened, Nick had panicked and hid behind there, spotting the gun when it was far too late. He wasn't able to save anyone the first time, not that he cared back then. But he did this time. Surviving along with Coach, Ellis, and Rochelle had softened him; taught him to value life, especially when there were very few humans left alive.

Nearly dropping the magnum, Nick grabbed at his head as pain flooded his being. Clenching his eyes, he saw the memories as they poured into his head of past times he had killed infected. It tested his sanity at times, seeing those faces as the dull and dead eyes finally faded any remaining light in them. No matter who you were, zombie or no, you never forget the faces of those you killed. 

As the hunter made a gurgling noise as it slumped to the floor dead, occasionally twitching from any remaining and decaying nerves it had. Positive that the Hunter was dead, despite the twitching and gurgling, Nick ran to the second maimed and crying woman, scanning her body for any hint of the disease. Sighing, his head dropped. The conman had hoped that he wouldn't find any sign of the sickness on her being. She was so young, barely out of high school and full of light. 

But unfortunately, there on her stomach where the hunter had clawed her stomach open, reveling her intestines, was the familiar sickly green and yellow puss of the infection. He had been too late, that much was clear. Once more, Nick would be forced to put someone down like a rabid dog. On another part of her body lay a large, bloody bite wound on her shoulder oozed black muck and her veins darkened quickly as she sobbed, attempting to keep her insides from spilling out with one hand.

"I'm sorry." Nick whispered as he grabbed her hand in comfort and squeezing, feeling her grip his hand with equal yet fading strength. He wasn't sure if she could completely hear him or had just assumed that he would be able to help her, to end her misery. But she had and she cried harder from the horror and the pain the infected had caused her, mouthing pleas for him to kill her. To stop the pain she had been suffering. His thumb ran over her knuckles gently as he shared a look, determined to make her understand, with one look, that he would shoot her. And with that one look, he pained sobbing turned to one of joy as she smiled, spitting up blood as she coughed. 

"It will be quick." He told her, voice gruff and haggered from the alcohol, feeling her squeeze his hand once more, nervous about her death. Seeing her nod in understanding, he placed his gun to her temple and squeezed her hand one final time in his attempt to give her some form of comfort in the quickly emptying building.

"Thank you..." The woman responded softly, body jerking as he skin had started to show signs of turning, slowly fading into a ghastly pale white, her blackened veins popping up behind the paper think skin. If he didn't kill her now, she would be a witch. Her slowly growing bloody nails were a sign of it. Taking a deep breath and without flinching, Nick pulled the trigger. The bang echoed throughout the now empty casino.

\--

The infected had spread quicker than Nick had ever thought physically possible. Of course, he was in the casino for only a moment before the excitement with the hunter had happened. Who knows how long it actually took for the disease to spread while he wasn't watching. The second he stepped out the doors, he was bombarded by the foul creatures, smelling the familiar aroma of rotten flesh and blood. 

_'Just like old times.'_ He thought to himself before pulling out his magnum and wasted no time to shoot his way through the crowd of infected that had begun to shamble toward him with their screams and gurgling that he was all too familiar with.

Jumping inside a nearby car, Nick shuffled for the spare ammo for the pistol he had barely remembered to grab, cursing as he dropped it at first before managing to replace the old magazine with the new one with shaking hands. Sitting up and glancing through the window of the car door, worriedly glancing around as the infected now began to mob the vehicle he was residing in for shelter. 

Despite his magnum, Nick only had so much ammo to use and given the choice, he'd rather not waste it. Baring his teeth, he mentally wished he had something to hit them with instead of shooting. Slouching against the door once again, Nick looked over to the back of the seat, aiming to look for an opening past the zombies through the back when he spotted something in the back seat. It wasn't the best but it would prevent using ammo. The conman grinned, reaching toward the weapon in pleasure. There, in the back seat, was a crowbar.

Crowbar in hand and pistol in his leg holster for when he needed it, Nick fled the car, fighting his way out of the hoard and into freedom. Path now clear, he bolted down the street, not knowing where he was going while he chose to ignore his now bleeding arm from an infected that had gotten a lucky hit on him during his struggle to escape the nightmare he found himself in. Things were so much easier when he had help. 

While Nick had no clue how long he had been running or how far he had gone but the further he kept on, the less common the undead were until he could not spot a single one, He could faintly hear the soothing and familiar voice of his long dead friend, making him slow his movements as the adrenaline his body produced was now fading. 

Legs now burning and his suit covered in blood of the infected, his arms shook from exhaustion as the crowbar in his hand felt heavy. Nick was so very tired, the fighting having worn him down. The conman hadn't been used to physically fighting just to stay alive. The battle he suffered before the Green Flu hit was nothing compared to all the fighting he would have to do from now on. Feet dragging, Nick panted and sweat dripped from his brow. However, he couldn't be bothered to wipe it away. It wasn't until he stepped on a corpse of a nearby zombie did he finally come back to reality.

The infected weren't less common as he had previously thought. No. They were just slaughtered and not too far from the trail of bodies sat a customed armored vehicle and the man who Nick remembered dying, was there, standing on the hood, baseball bat in hand, prepared to fight to the death when he appeared to have spotted Nick and waved the conman over, smiling and relief evident on his expression. 

Ellis had worked and ran a mechanic shop before the Green Flu hit, or so the kid had said when all of them spoke in the elevator. He had also mentioned about making a truck 99% zombie proof. The fact he was able to see it was funnier than Nick had wanted to admit. However, he found he wasn't able to will that image to stay. The sight of his best friend hurt to see, especially since they hadn't officially met yet. 

During the battle on the bridge, Ellis had been killed by a tank while rescuing both Nick and Coach, resulting in his death. If it hadn't been for the kid, He and Coach wouldn't be alive to this day. The conman felt his body shudder in despair, remembering the sight of the hick's mangled body under a car the tank threw at him. Nick gotten a front row seat of Ellis' death and had cried for days before Coach and Rochelle managed to help him cope. While they too mourned, they all needed to be strong for him.

Stumbling over to the broken down truck, He watched Ellis jump down to greet him, hand out and ready for a handshake. He had said something in greeting but Nick found it hard to hear his words from his exhaustion. It was a struggle to stay awake and even harder to push back the darkness that was associated with passing out. He shook his head, fighting the drowsy feeling that tried to take over his mind. He had to stay on his guard. He would not give in. For Ellis. 

"Hey, man. You ok?" Noticing the conman's body language and exhaustion, Ellis held his hands out, ready to catch the survivor in white, his nice voice with a simple southern accented voice now was flooded with concern where it once held joy. Nick frowned slightly, feeling his lips move but he no longer had control over them or of anything they may have tried to form. Ellis' voice sounded so far away and it made him so tired.

"Hey, c'mon man. It's ok." The hick spoke up again and a heavy hand was placed on Nick's shoulder, keeping a firm hold on him to keep the older man from falling over. Looking up, Nick felt his breath hitch and tears stung his eyes as his body began to submit to the exhaustion he had been fighting.

"Ellis?" Nick gasped and watched as the hick's eyes not only grow in surprise but watch him, concerned. That's when Nick finally gave in to the darkness and passed out, Ellis catching him as he fell.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is pretty short and I believe a few chapters might be short until the real action begins. It get's better the further you go in this. As do all my stories.

Chapter 1: "Hi, I'm Ellis"

Ellis didn't know what to think when he saw the man in a suit walking to the shop that he and Keith owned. At first, Ellis thought the man had broken down and was looking for help. So when he saw the man outside his window, he went out to see if he needed help. Then Ellis saw it, blood covering the once considered white suit with a blood stained crowbar and a gun in the holster on the man's leg. Ellis could tell that he was as pale as a man could get and he froze on the spot.

Slowly, Ellis began to creep back to the shop, away from the possible murderer when he got an even better look at the stranger. The guy was staggering and stumbling with each step in a way that told the mechanic that this guy was defiantly not drunk but hurt and tired. As if he had been fighting for his life.

Ellis wanted to go back inside the shop and lock the door so this tired and bloody stranger wouldn't get in and pass the place but something stopped him in his tracks. It was a weird feeling in his gut that told him that the messy stranger wouldn't hurt him. It was that same feeling that told Ellis to help him and to care for him. It was as if he knew this man. Fear fled from his body as the stranger got closer. Gathering what courage he could muster, he stepped up to the bloody man before his bravery could flee from him as well.

"Hey, man. You ok?" The mechanic asked and almost slapped himself. Of course the man wasn't alright! He was covered in blood! The man stopped walking and his mouth moved as if he was trying to say something but no words came out. Just pants. "Hey, c'mon man. It's ok." He found himself trying to soothe the other man, placing a hand on the man's shoulder; which wasn't as bulky as the suit made it look. His shoulder felt a bit smaller than his own. The stranger froze at the contact and his head rose to face Ellis'. The mechanic watched as his eyes went wide and his face paled.

"Ellis?" The man breathed out rapidly before his eyes rolled back and he collapsed into Ellis' waiting arms. The brunette froze. That man knew his name. He didn't know how considering the people in the northern part of the country don't usually spend time to learn a southern's name. And the strangest part was, was that this man knew Ellis' name but the mechanic didn't know his. He shook his head from that thought for the moment and looked at the man in his arms. He was going to regret this but he was never the one to turn a person in need away. Lifting the man up under his legs bridal style, Ellis carried him into the building and into the lounge to set him on the couch gently. Once that was done, he reached into his pocket for his phone and dialed in a number.

After two rings, the person on the other end answered. Ellis snorted. "Hey, Keith. Can you come pick me up? I'm not gonna be able to use my bike today."  
As Ellis expected, Keith arrived twenty minutes after the call in his old pickup truck. "Ya' know Ellis, you always pickin' up strays" Keith spoke with a heavy accent as he fixed his cap and watched Ellis come to the truck with the unconscious man in his arms. Keith watched as Ellis brought the bloody man to the truck and opened the door. That's when Keith began to protest.

"Woah, Hey! He's all Bloody Ellis! Hose 'em down at least." It was a weak protest but Keith really didn't want blood on his seats and Ellis knew it. "I don want no blood on this leather."

This caused Ellis to pause and think for a minute while examining the passenger seat. If he angled himself right, he'd be holding the man so the seats didn't get messed up. He turned to his friend and smiled. "Don't worry none, Keith. He won't even touch your seats. I'll be holding him the entire way. This satisfied the red head and he nodded, grabbing the unknown man's stuff and tossing them in the back before hopping in the drivers seat. Ellis did was he promised and situated himself on the seat with the man in his lap. It was a bit awkward to hold the man who was sitting on his lap like a lover with the man's head on his shoulder and black hair in his face. But if it got them home, he'd handle it.  
The ride home was bumpy and Ellis was beginning to lose feeling in his legs from the bloody stranger's weight but he held on. 

Every once in a while, the man would shift and groan. Ellis wished that he'd stop moving all together until they reached home. Keith had the radio on to some old style rock song and he was banging the palms of his hands on the steering wheel while singing to the song off key. Laughing, Ellis couldn't help but join in, ignoring the lack of feeling in his legs as the man shifted once again.


	3. "I ever tell you the time Keith and I found this Stranger named Nick...?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: As I said before, I need reviews to keep my spirits up so people from Deviantart and that are reviewing, are awesome. Thank you people. And Keith fans, don't worry. I'm not planning on killing him anytime soon so you're all safe. XD  
> BTW, I looked it up, Ellis really has green eyes and Nick's eyes are gray and I got two of the same request so here's the poll.  
> Ellis/Nick romance: 2  
> Now you all take it from there. Seriously people. Talk to me, I listen. I don't bite.

Chapter 2: "I ever tell you the time Keith and I found this Stranger named Nick...?"

"Ur gunna wut?" Keith asked Ellis the second they got into the house. Ellis was having some difficulty carrying the taller man but he stubbornly refused any help Keith gave except for opening the doors and carrying the items that came with the strange man. Ellis shifted the weight in his arms, causing the unconscious man to groan.  
"Well, he needs a bath and he can't do that unless he wakes up. And unless you want blood on any of the beds, that's fine by me. We used to have mud on the sheets after a day of cleaning the hogs on Dave's farm." He rambled. Keith scratched his head and shrugged. "Do whut you want. Blood is harder to get out than mud." He stated before going out the door. "Where you going?" Ellis asked, turning with difficulty to face the other mechanic.

Keith popped his head back in the doorway. "Ol' man Carl needs help cleanin' his barn and I offer ta' do it." was his answer as he gave a knowing grin, practically jumping with excitement. Ellis smiled. Old man Carl was the old man who used to hire Ellis and Keith to work on the farm before Keith found his stash of moonshine and fireworks. There was an early Fourth of July. Real early considering when that happened, it was in May. Keith had been burned all over and had to take another trip to the hospital to get patched up. Luckily, all Ellis got was more like a sun burn so he didn't have to stay there for a week like Keith had to. But the whole incident cost them a whole years pay just to pay off the damaged to the barn and the loss of Carl's moonshine and fireworks.

"Yeah, yeah, fine." Ellis relented with a wave of his head. "Hey, you stay away from his stash and Jenny." He ordered playfully. Jenny was Carl's nineteen year old daughter who also worked on vehicles and did stupid stunts like Keith and Ellis. It wasn't hard to notice that Keith had his eye on her. Speaking of Keith, the man only answered with a grin before hopping into his truck and driving away with a whoop. Ellis huffed at the fact that his friend had left the door opened so he hobbled over there and kicked it closed before heading of to the bathroom.

For once, Ellis was grateful that the bathroom was on ground floor. He didn't even want to imagine going up those steps with the man in his arms with how heavy he was. His boots clomping on the wood floors soon changed to a slap with the alteration of wood being replaced by tile as the mechanic reached the bathroom, slowly and gently setting the man on the floor closest to the bathtub before standing up and rubbing his arms to get feeling back in them. Once he was sure he could move them properly, he left the bathroom and ran to Keith's room to retrieve a shirt and pants, ignoring the underwear. Ellis was sure that the man he carried into the house wouldn't be all that happy to wear another man's underwear and since Keith was the bigger one between the two, it was the best idea to use his clothes until the man in the bathroom got some clean clothes for himself. Heading back down the stairs and into the bathroom, he arrived just in time to hear the man groan and move. The first move the stranger made was to rub his head before raising-or at least, trying to, to a sitting position but failed and would have cracked his head against the hard tile if Ellis hadn't jumped in and grabbed the man's head.

"You need to be careful. You're too weak to be moving and stuff." Ellis stated and lowered the man to the floor, catching the mans eyes. His eyes had to be the grayest pair of eyes he had seen. They looked like a thunderstorm cloud and they clashed with Ellis' green ones. 

The deeper the mechanic looked, the more familiar those eyes seemed to him. But he couldn't place the familiarity. He shook his head and set the dark haired man's head gently to the ground. "Now don't move." Ellis ordered nicely. "You'll hurt yourself." Then he got up, trying to ignore the painful stare the man was giving him.

"How is it that you're alive?" The stranger asked. Ellis cocked his head as he grabbed towels and a was rag from the cabinet over the toilet. 'That was a strange question.' Ellis thought and turned back the the man, with a confused face he asked: "Why wouldn't I be alive? I don't have a hit on me do I?" He clutched the towels to himself, teasing the man now. "I knew they'd find me one day. S'only a matter of time." After he said that, it was clear that the man on the floor was not amused because of the intense look he was sending. "That wasn't what I was asking. How did you survive the tank?"

Ellis blinked and set the towels on the sink before singling the shortest one out and used it for the floor towel to catch the water when he had to get the man out of the tub. "Tank?" He asked, starting the water, avoiding the man's eyes. "No tanks around here, or, not that I know of. The military mostly stays up north since the UFO incident that Keith pulled. Hey, You want to know about the time Keith and I found this UFO out in the woods but it ended up being a torn up ol' scarecrow-"

"Ellis!" The man interrupted. "I'm being serious here. How did you survive?! I saw you die when that car landed on you!" Ellis finally stood up from the tub, letting it fill with water, he turned to the man on the floor, rubbing his brown hair furiously. "Dang gun, you said my name again. How'd you know my name? I never gave it to ya'." the mechanic pointed a finger at the man covered in blood.

The said man looked as if he had been stricken. "Ellis, you did give it to me. Back in the elevator. It me, Nick. Remember?" Ellis felt his anger deflate a little at hearing the man-Nick's name. Now he knew what to call him. "Well, Nick. I ain't never been on one of them elecaters-"

"Elevators." Nick corrected and groaned as pain went through his body before easing out. "Whatever." Ellis waved the correction away. "Point is, I don't know you, but I do know one thing, you need a bath and a good long rest." Then the brunette put on a smile and lifted Nick to a sitting position, making a move to remove the conman's clothes. All to which, the guy protested, weakly trying to slap his hands away. "I can do it myself." Nick grumbled which caused Ellis to laugh but the mechanic at least got him out of the coat of the suit. Humoring the humiliated man, he dragged Nick to a nearby wall and let him lean against it.

"Fine. After all, you're just tired, not hurt. I'm sure you can do it by your onesie. Go on." Then he stood back, leaning against the sink, watching the other man. Nick scowled and made an attempt to raise an arm to the buttons of his shirt only to have them fall weakly back to his sides. He glared at his shirt and made another attempt but failed once again. After Nick's third try, Ellis felt he had to stop the man before he embarrassed himself. Getting off the sink, he went over and squatted down to Nick's level, staring at the grumbling man.

"Are you sure you don't need help?" He asked patiently as he watched Nick closely. Nick wasn't even making any eye contact with him, instead, choosing to look at the closed door in his frustration. Ellis watched as his face turned a slight shade of pink but the scowl never left his face. "Fine." Nick surrendered quietly, letting himself be dragged back to the tub and letting the rest of his clothes be removed with skilled hands that he never remembered Ellis having. After getting the man out of his clothes, to which he threw in the empty hamper behind the door, Ellis turned the fauset off and bent down to pick Nick up, only to once again get slapped away.

But Ellis wasn't going to back down easily. Taking Nick's face in one hand, he made the other man look at him in the eyes before asking kindly: "Do you really want to attempt to get into a tub that is higher than what you can stand now?" The answer was obvious and Nick knew it too. So the dark haired man shook his head and once again, allowed Ellis to move him from the floor and into the warm water of the tub. But before anything else, Ellis handed Nick the soap and wash rag. "Here." He said. "Wash your lower half. I'll get everything else. Lemme know when your done." Then he turned his back to sit on the toilet, facing away. Knowing that Nick was grateful for this bit of privacy, he couldn't stop the smile.

"So." He began, wanting to start a conversation with the once stranger. "What did you use to do?" He asked. He could hear the water splash and crinkle with Nick's movement. 

"Do?" he heard the older man ask as he continued to clean himself. Ellis nodded excitedly. "Yeah, ya' know. For a job?" There was a pause. Not even the water was making a sound. "I...em..." Nick's voice had gone raspy and thick as if struggling. "I was a gambler." finally was chocked out and he heard the water again but slower, as if Nick was waiting for a possible rejection.

But the news excited Ellis. He always wanted to play cards and do a little gambling. Not much but just some innocent little gambling, like for marbles instead of money. Ellis liked marbles. "Really? Cool! You know, I always wanted to know how to play cards. Can ya' teach me sometime?" He asked. There was another pause before he heard a deep chuckle. "Sure, kid."

Ellis was hopping on his seat now. "Whoooweee! I'd be very grateful! Keith would be so jealous that I'm gonna find out how ta' play before him. The only one around here that knows how to play is Carl and Jenny but they won't teach us. Said that we'd make ourselves go broke. Oh, I remember Keith and I one time went to ask Carl for the tenth time to teach us and he said that if we managed to collect the gophers eatin' his crops. Well, it wasn't easy so Keith figured that he'd need to dig them out, so he got Bobby J, the goat who was named by Jenny, she was weird about names, anyway, he got the goat and-"

"Done." Nick had interrupted hurriedly and Ellis turned around. "Already? But I didn't finish my story." He pouted but shrugged it off and got up and walked over to the tub, taking the rag from Nick's and and lathered the unused side with soap. The pink on Nick's face was evident that he didn't like being cleaned by another person. The thought made him chuckle. "Don't be ashamed. I had ta' do this for Keith loads of times considering that he's always going to the hospital for one stunt or another.

"Shut up." Nick had grumbled.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: I hope you like chapter 2. Was it as good as the prologue and the first? R&R!


	4. "Hey, That's not cool, man."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Sorry I haven't posted anything lately for my three or four reviewers. I'm not kidding when I said I needed them. Anyway, I had been busy recently so I was unable to write. See what happens? I review more and faster with support.  
> Nick/Ellis romance: 2 (no new votes yet)
> 
> (These notes are just as old as the story)

Chapter 3: "Hey, That's not cool, man."

"So," Ellis began, clicking his tongue as he helped Nick getting into Keith's old clothes. "Mind telling me why you were covered in enough blood to fill a pool? Personally, it kind of freaks me out considering that only the bit on your arm was yours and the others were...well...not." He couldn't help but bite his lip nervously, hoping he didn't overstep a line but honestly, the sight of Nick being covered in another person's blood was just disturbing. Oh man, Ellis really hoped that he hadn't let a murderer in his home. The dark haired man winced when he got his arm through the short sleeve and grunted, not even meeting the mechanic's eyes.

"Yeah, I guess I do owe you a few answers." His gray eyes scanned Ellis as if thinking whether or not he should know. If he could take the news. "What do you know about the Green Flu?" Ellis' eyebrows scrunched. That was an interesting question. He had no clue as to why that would have to do with anything.

"It's an sickness that's been going 'round for the past few weeks. Nothin' harmful." He answered. That really was all he knew. He didn't have a clue as to where this was going but now his head was starting to hurt. Grabbing the man's arm after he was fully dressed in Keith's yellow t-shirt and light-dull blue stripped shorts that had come really lose to Nick's behind, he helped the man hobble to Ellis' room and set him on the bed. The conman groaned into the soft cushions as his body relaxed into them. Then he rolled onto his back and shook his head at the sight of Ellis.

"No, kid. The Green Flu is anything but harmless." He ran a hand over his face. "It used to be an experiment that the CEDA was working on for their enemies but it had somehow landed in a large population and is quickly spreading. It is a disease but it's very lethal. It kills you in a way that whatever is left of you is a walking corpse. Trust me, I've fought these things long enough. Most recently at the casino." The man stopped and was breathing in a rhythm that signaled that he was falling asleep. Ellis could only gape at this man. Walking corpses? It was like some of the sci-fi he had watched as a kid gone wrong. But even Ellis knew that, that kind of stuff didn't happen in real life. Yet, the feeling of familiarity kept him from doubting Nick. Anyone else and he would have called the insane asylum...No, that was a lie. The mechanic didn't have the heart to do that. Hang on, did Nick say "casino"?

"Nick, there ain't no casino's around here." he informed as he rubbed his hands together, suddenly feeling cold. "The only casino around is a five day walk north of here." Nick's eyes shot open instantly and stared at him with surprise.

"Seriously?! Then how'd I make it here in one day?" He asked, watching Ellis shrug. "I dunno. Really impossible really. Y'know, Keith tried that once, to run there in one day. But he ended up collapsing from exhaustion. Nearly tore his leg muscles inta' shreds-"

"You're sure it's five days away from here?" Nick interrupted. "I could have sworn..." But the man on the bed had stopped there. He didn't even know what to think about the whole incident. Ellis sighed softly through his nosed and took the covers, covering the other man with them and gently tucking him in like he used to do with Keith when the red head gt out of the hospital.

"Maybe ya' was on adrenaline rush." He suggested, standing up when he was finished with the blankets. "I 'member when I was visiting Keith in the hospital, the doctor tol' me that the reason he made it that far was because his body was producing a lot of adrenaline so he'd keep going. Then again, the doctor also said that since he didn't feel threatened, t didn't produce him 'nough essential for survival." Then he looked down at the man who was staring ahead dully. "And since you're so weak and ran all t'way out here, your body's gonna be really sore by t'marra."

Nick groaned and tried to roll over, and succeeding with Ellis' help. "Great." He groaned. "Just what I needed. Zombies and torn muscles to boot. This is going to be a fun apocalypse."

Ellis kept quiet. He didn't want to think, let alone hear of a possible apocalypse. In fact, the thought was kind of freaking him out on the inside. He just shook his head and listened as Nick began to snore quietly, indicating that he was asleep. Turning to leave the room, his mind wouldn't settle. The man had only been there for three hours and it felt like he had known him longer than that. And the same man was also the one giving him troubling thoughts. He went to the living room and sat down, resting his head in his hands. He hated to admit it, but Ellis got panicked over extreme changes. He wasn't exactly a planner or a neat freak but anyone would be frightened if say their country got bombed or something. In fact, the extreme change made him feel sick inside. How was he supposed to protect his mom when she was closer to where that sickness broke out at. 

All this time, he told himself that everything was going to be fine and a cure would be found soon.  
Ellis gave a shuddering sigh in his hands. He guess he knew all along that it wouldn't be alright. But he had hoped that it would be. Turning his head, he spotted his cell phone on the table where he left it when he was getting Nick dressed. Reaching over and grabbing it, he contemplated on who he could call around this time. But he knew. Was his mom okay all by herself? Maybe he should have her move in with him and Keith. The house wasn't big but she could have his bed.

Calling her up, he placed the phone to his head, hearing his mother answer tiredly. "Ellis, boy. You know what time it is?" Ellis bit his cheek, relieved that she sounded alright. "Yah, I'do. I was just worried 'bout you and wanted to hear if you're ok." There was a pause and the sound o the squeak of her rocking chair that she must have sat in.

"I'm okay, Ellis." Her voice changed from her tired tone to a comforting one. "Is something the matter?" She asked. At first, he didn't want to tell her. But she needed to know.

"Momma, the sickness goin' around. It ain't harmless. I want you to move in over here. 'cording to Nick, it's at the Paradise Casino and that's really close to you." He looked at his free hand and noticed that it was clenched into a fist. "Mama, he had to fight his way outta there. He said that the sick people there, they're just walkin' dead. Please come over here. Tonight." He begged as worry filled him and tears stung his eyes. There was a pause on the other end where there was a sigh.

"Ellis, hun. CEDA have been trying to get us all evacuated up here. I was goin' to get on one of them flying birds tomarra' when they land again." This was her response but that response lessened Ellis' worry. He'd rather she was out of there now. "'K mama. Just be safe. Don't wait around for me I want you on tha' whirrly bird the second it lands. I don' care ifn' your in your jammies." He tried to be stern but his voice was shaking to much.

Then he heard a hum. "Yes, sweet. I will do that. I want you on one when they come to evac your town. It should be soon. You, that boy Keith and...who was that guy you mentioned?"

"Nick, Mama."

"Yes, and that Nick Mama fellow." Ellis had to laugh at that. His mom knew all the right buttons to push. "Nah, just Nick. You know what I mean." He heard her laugh. "Yes I know. 

Take care of 'Just Nick' for me."

"Mama." He chuckled. "Don' worry. We'll be safe. I promise."

~"Technically, I'm not allowed to have a gun, legally."~

The gun felt heavy in his hands as he pushed along with Coach and Rochelle by his side. The silence between them was thick and none of them were up to breaking it. It had been silent since Nick had stopped crying. It had been silent since Ellis had died. It was a horrible week for them, but they pressed on, bent on making survival their highest goal. 

Making sure that Ellis' sacrifice didn't go in vain. But for Nick, survival wasn't an option anymore. He wanted to curl up and have the infected rip him to bits. Anything to see Ellis' face again, in life or death. The hick never knew it, but he was the one holding them together. The little fireball was the one keeping them going, keeping their spirits up.

Honestly, if you asked Nick, he would have told you that he never thought he'd make it to the bridge. He had thought that they'd all die shortly after the hillbilly had bit the dust. But such was not the case. They had lived this far, now they needed to make it across the broken bridge. Finding whatever strength he had left, he lifted his gun and shot at ever zombie in his path, blood and gut shooting everywhere by him as he ran. The three had somehow gotten separated in the chaos but each could at least see each other. Coach, being the farthest ahead, did most of the work, clearing the path for Nick but the conman was stuck with the many stragglers after him.

It was chaotic and he couldn't see very well, eyes covered by blood, he was unable to see. With Rochelle and Coach's help, he avoided the giant chunks missing in the bridge and climbed over the vehicles, necessary to get across. The roar of the helicopter echoed in his ears and he turned to see a road, leading to where the machine had landed. Hearing Rochelle shout something, all three ran into it, breathing heavily and clutching each other for reassurance that they were all alright.  
As they took off, Rochelle was the one to say the one thing on all of their minds. "If only Ellis could have been here to see this."

Nick, with a heavy heart, could only answer with a nod.

Nick opened his eyes, feeling tears stinging in the corners and his face wet from some that fell. The memory should have been joyous. Ellis should have been there that day. He just felt it. But then he winds up, the feeling of his old energy he used to have before grief had made his body frail. Nick had found himself in a confusing situation. He met Ellis again. But one that didn't know him. Had his lie before been a dream? No, it hadn't been. Somehow, some way, Nick had ended up starting this part of his life all over again. But why? What was the use? This was Ellis, but not HIS Ellis. This Ellis didn't know him, This Ellis shared a house with Keith when he remembered that his Ellis lived with his mother. This, this new Ellis was a stranger to him, and Nick had never felt more alone in his life.


	5. "Hey, stop shooting me!"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Yey, reviews! I gobble them up like candy, 'cuz I love them so much! Keep on reviewing and I'll keep on posting.  
> Warning: mentions of boy/boy. Don't get in a tizzy if your not into that. You hate it, then get out. Be intelligent and don't flame. (just a warning)  
> Nick/Ellis romance: 3  
> Nick/Ellis friendship (No romance): 1

Chapter 4: "Hey, stop shooting me!"

Nick never forgot the multiple people he had taken to bed with him back before the infection hit. He says people because a good portion of them were men but mostly, he was with women. Each time he had taken a man to bed, he had been drunk to the point of black out and his mind was fuzzy afterward. Now, Nick wasn't gay, not that he had anything against gays, but he was hesitant to go around other men while drunk should he find himself in that position again. He had a strange habit, while drunk, to pick up men who loved nothing more than to dominate him and leave his hotel room along with a few of his things that would fetch a nice price. Personally, Nick blamed his suit for that. Everyone thought he was some rich hotshot that could afford what he wanted. 

In a way, that was true but it only depends if he was able to get a good hand of cards or two. The last time this so called 'incident' happened, for some reason, he remembered it. He remembered being forced onto the bed and clothes forced off and his legs pulled open. Next thing he knew, his wife (well, ex-wife now) went with said man, claiming t be in love and thus, another divorce and another failed marriage, taking Nick's and her one year old daughter Abby with her.

Aside from her taking his daughter, little mattered considering that the conman had a little trouble to settling down. He wasn't really one to stay in one town while another had a perfectly good place for his gambling needs. When he told Ellis, above all others since he never really told anyone about his drinking habits, Ellis didn't look at him with pity. Instead, the hick had told him of his abusive father. Ellis' mother managed to take him and hide away until help could be found for the two. The kid had been just that; a kid. Around seven years old. Both had shared an understanding silence. Neither one of them speaking to each other as Coach's snores echoed through the safe room. The occasional groan and moan from the infected outside the safety of the red barred doors. It was a moment that Nick missed the most. Not even having to say a work and the kid knew what he wanted to say and would respond with a calm smile and an arm on his shoulder in a reassuring way.

The day Ellis died was the day that Nick found how he truly missed the kid.

Waking up, Nick bit his tongue to keep from crying out. The Ellis poser was right. His muscles were sore. In pain, he wanted to scream but didn't dare. Should the infected had made their way here while he was asleep, he didn't want to risk alerting any. Any attempt to move was a failure. None of his limbs would work and he was afraid of the thought that he might of torn his muscles in his body, running from the massive horde. Giving up on moving, he heard urgent voiced coming from somewhere outside the room before he heard swift thumps of boots clomping up the wooden stairs and the door was opened to show the poser Ellis, biting his lip as he did last night. He came into the room and opened a closet to grab a hunting rifle. Turning back to the conman, he tossed some clothes on the foot of the bed.

"Can you get dressed? We need to get moving. The area's being evacuated and we gotta head out. Kieth is already to the whirrlybird, trying ta' hold them back so they don't take off without us." Without waiting for an answer, the mechanic lifted him into a sitting position and helped him dress into day clothes, much to Nick's embarrassment. "It's called a helicopter and where's my suit?" The conman griped as Ellis lifted him up on his back. Ellis didn't answer for a while, instead, picking up a black trash bag full of unidentified things.

"I put it in here bag to clean. Now I'm not sure ifn' I should touch it. Or if you should either. CEDA says that it can spread through blood." the brunette answered and hurried out of the house, Nick getting poked by the gun the kid had strapped to his back before lifting him up and carrying him. They reached a truck that looked pretty beat up and Ellis set him in the passenger seat, buckling him in seeing as Nick was breathing heavily to ignore the pain of being jostled around. With the slam of the door, Ellis tossed the back containing Nick's bloody suit, in the bed of the truck before hopping into the drivers seat, setting the hunting rifle on Nick's lap.

"Hang onta' that for me. I might need it if what 'cha say is true." Nick could not stop the glare at this poser Ellis. The man implied that he could even move of his own will at this point. With the start of the engine, Ellis let out a cry of joy and looked back up through the windshield and gaped, they now were surrounded by the infected which seemed to come from nowhere. "Holy Sheeeeeeat..." The hick gasped, his accent thicker at that moment. The conman could only growl and bare his teeth as the kid floored the petal and they sped off, running over multiple common infected while Nick kept his eyes out for any specials, determined not to be caught off guard again.

They arrived at the helicopter pick up in time to see the large door of the flying machine close, Keith standing on it as it began to take off. Ignoring the items in the vehical, Ellis cried out loud and hopped out of the truck and got Nick on his back, sprinting to the machine, arm streached out to his friend who was holding the door open, gripping the opening. Keith held his free hand out to the last two to be evacuated, hoping to grab the hand that Ellis was giving. The red head's blue eyes widened as they lifted higher into the air, his fingers scraping against the tips's of Ellis' as they flew away.

Eyes wide in disbelief, Keith let out a shout. "Stay alive buddy! I'm a waitin'!" He saw the two figures on the ground stare up at him. He saw Ellis nod as tears fell as he watched his friend fly away. "I'm gonna meet 'chu! Don' do anythin' stupid 'till I get there!" the brunette called back, adjusting Nick who began to slide down.

Keith Pulled himself fully into the helicopter as Ellis and the stranger's figures got smaller. Quickly he yelled out one last call of reassurance. "You better get there soon! Ya' hear! If you don' I'm gonna beat you a since of your life!"

~"There was this one time me and Keith..."~

Ellis could do nothing as he watched the last evacuation copter fly away with as many people could get on and tears fell down his cheeks unnoticed by the mechanic but not by the conman. Nick was staring where he was watching, his face blank and eyes dull as if he had expected this and had experienced it. It wasn't long before the conman cleared his throat and his eyes shifted to Ellis' sad face.

"I...ah...I'm sorry kid. I held you back." Ellis' turned his head what he could to the man on his back in shock. "Why are you apologizing? You didn' do anything wrong. You didn't hold me back, Nick. Them zombies did. If we hadn't gotten buffered by so many of 'em, we would have made it." Nick said nothing. Shrugging, Ellis once again adjusted Nick on his back who was laying very limp from the pain in his muscles. "C'mon. We gotta get ta' New Orleans. We're gonna be fine."

For once, Ellis wasn't sure who he was reassuring more. Nick, who held a poker face yet whose eyes said it all, or the mechanic himself. He didn't know, but he needed to keep them moving.


	6. "We need a horse."

Chapter 5: "We need a horse."

"Damn, man. Where are they all coming from?" Ellis cried, running over another group of infected with the truck. After the helicopter had taken off, Nick and Ellis scrambled to the truck and took off without any supplies other thank food that Keith had stored in the bed of the truck earlier. That had been hours ago and Ellis hadn't stopped driving since. Now it's night time and the truck was running extremely low on gas. Nick snorted at the hicks comment, working on trying to move more than his arms, which he had managed to move and hold Ellis' hunting rifle. His grip wasn't the best but it was better than hanging limp at his sides. Now he was able to do something if anything happened. This Ellis couldn't protect him forever like the other one tried to do. Frowning, he adjusted his grip on the gun. Nick's arms felt like bees were stinging him all over and it was annoying.

Looking out the window, Nick kept watch for any specials heading their way. So far, they hadn't run into any which was good but he still had to keep an eye out. Only spotting the occasional common infected that didn't seem too interested with the survivors, he didn't waste ammo on those.

"They use to be people before they got sick," The conman answered, ignoring Ellis' stiff shoulders at the answer. The conman's gaze went up to the starry night sky for a moment. 

"This is just the result." He could hear the driver let out a shuddering breath through his nose when he heard that. "Never thought that anything like this was possible. Was jus' suppos' ta' be in video games an' movies." The driver stated dryly as his facial features seem to grow dark. "I wonder why there ain't any kid infected. I ain't seen any. I don' wanna hurt 'em."

Nick spared a sad glance to his fellow survivor, suddenly thinking of his daughter Abby, wondering if she was immune or not. He had remembered having this conversation with Coach, Rochelle and Ellis, the one he knew, about this when they met up with Francis, Zoey, and Louis.  
"You won't have to, kid." He stated and saw the other man's face look questioning out the window. "A child's body is not able to handle the Green Flu. They only survive if their immune. If they're not, they die. It's quick and painless unless they were torn to shreds by their infected parents." He watched as Ellis' face went green, brows clench and lips pucker in disgust.

"How'd you know all this?" The question came to no surprise to Nick and he couldn't help but laugh slightly. "Because I fought in this before, kid. You did too...But..." He hesitated. He already sounded like a mad man to the other. How was he supposed to explain it to him about the weeks of having each others backs, how they had gotten to be close friends, or even how they escaped. How was he to explain all that when he himself couldn't explain how he seemingly got sent back in time when for him it was like blinking? "Never mind..." he whispered instead, turning back to look out the window.

Nothing else had been said for a good few minutes as the two men just sat in an awkward silence. With each bump in the road, he couldn't hold his grunts as the feeling of bee stings started to cover his body as feeling began to come back to him. But that wasn't enough to break the silence. Not even the sounds of the infected being crushed by the truck could break it. Until Ellis suddenly spoke up.

"You know, when I was a kid. Jus' a lil' tiny thing. My mama used to hold a large family event each New Years. Keith and I used to love watching how his pa would play with the turkey mama was going to make 'for she cooked it-" Nick couldn't stop the smile that broke out on his face. He knew this story. Ellis, his Ellis, had told him about it one day while they were trying to cheer each other up by telling stories of their past. Ellis had continued, not noticing Nick's knowing smile. "-And he was playing around to make us laugh. He didn' mean ta' do it but it happened. But the-"

"-But the turkey slipped out of his hand and out the two story window, bouncing off the shingled roof and landed on the ground with an explosion of drumsticks and turkey wings all over." Nick broke in, remembering how Ellis had told it to him. The mechanic's head whipped around to face him, wide eyes and his mouth opened wide.

"How'd you know?! No one but those in ma' family knew that aside from Keith!" Ellis blurted, not even watching the road which was just a straight line into another city. Nick felt his smile turn into a smirk. "You told me. It was after I told you about one of my drunk adventures in a bar." Ellis' jaw shut with a chomp of teeth and he turned back to the road. 

Once again, the silence lingered in the truck until Ellis once again broke it, with a thoughtful look.  
The serious look on the mechanic's face didn't suit him and it kind of worried the conman for a moment. "Ya' know." the brunette began. "I didn't want ta' admit it, but that sounds right. It's familiar but I don' remember. Like one of them deja vu's. Only I know I wasn't there." Then he half turned his head to look at Nick from the side. "I don't know why I do but...I believe you. I probably should't but I do." Then he turned back to the road, ignoring Nick's hopeful eyes.

Nick was about the say something but was interrupted by the sound of another rifle going off a while from where they were. Shocked, the hick stopped the car and turned off the engine. Both listened for a while, Nick's grip on the rile tightened. Then there was another shot, coming from the top floor of the building nearby and the conman felt his body go cold. This was the building he had met Rochelle, Ellis, and Coach. On the top of the same building, there was a small trail of smoke from which, Nick knew, would turn into a large fire.

"Aw, man, there's someone alive in there!" Ellis exclaimed and opened the door, Nick's attention was on him in an instant. "Oh, fuck no! You're not going in there, kid!" He growled, making an attempt to grab Ellis but failed. The other man stared at him like a dog would begging for food. "We can't jus' leave 'em in there! We need to help them!" Nick bared his teeth.

"No, absolutely not! We only have one gun and guess who has that!" Nick didn't want to leave Rochelle and Coach in there, he really didn't. As much as he refused to admit it, they were his friends, or they were back on the helicopter. But Ellis was just going to rush in head first alone, leaving Nick defenseless. Not that he cared much for his own safety but the conman refused letting the hick to go anywhere where he could get killed...again. Nick couldn't take Ellis dying a second time.

The look on the other man's face clued Nick in. Gun or not, Ellis was going in there. He growled again. "Fine," He relented, looking into those green eyes head on. "But you need to carry me. We'll act as one person. I'll shoot for you until I can move on my own again." As predicted, Ellis perked up immediately.  
Now here they were, Ellis carrying Nick on his back while the Conman made a strong effort to protecting both of them while searching for Coach and Rochelle. A few times, they had heard the voices of the two but were blocked off by walls and rubble.

"Don't step in that shit!" Nick hissed, smacking Ellis in the head, informing him of the spitter's goo which was right in front of them. Ellis gave a hurt look before realization dawned on him of what he almost stepped in. "EWW!" Ellis cried, backing away from the dead special. "It's an acid in' it?" He continued to look at the green goo as is began to sizzle to a diluted state. "Yup." Nick responded, reloading the gun and shooting a group of commoners that began to get too close. The special infected seemed to want to be in that building more than on the street.

"This way, girl!" Nick's head shot up at Coach's voice and noticed how close they sounded. Ellis had apparently heard his voice too and adjusted Nick's legs back on his hips as he looked around the room they were in through the smoke which was getting thicker from the fire. Nick turned his head to the window where he knew the two would appear. "Turn around." He said softly. "Coach and Rochelle are going to come in through the window from the ledge behind us. Be careful in case they shoot us by accident." Ellis nodded. "Is tha' their names?" He asked.

"Yeah kid."

"You know them too?" That wasn't really a question. It was more of a statement and Nick knew it. "Yeah...Don't tell them." He felt the younger man nod his head. "I'm gussin' you don' wanna freak 'em out like I almost did huh?" There was laughter in Ellis' tone. Nick just answered with a snort.  
Sure enough, the bald head of Coach appeared in the room followed by Rochelle. The four spotted each other and froze like a western stand off. None of them really knew what do do at that moment until Ellis, the silence breaker, spoke up with a smile.

"Hi, I'm Ellis. This stick in the mud is Nick. Don' mind him though. His legs ain't workin' properly right now but they will soon." Nick frowned but said nothing. The other two relaxed seeing that Nick and Ellis were also survivors. The woman was the first to respond with a timid smile. "My name's Rochelle and this is my dad, James." She responded. 

Nick's eyebrows shot to his hairline. This was new. The Rochelle and Coach he knew weren't related and Coach never gave his name-

"I'd appreciate it ifn' you all call me Coach." Ah, there it was. Nick just spoke too soon he guessed. That much was the same, Coach still liked being called Coach rather than his name. A hacking cough from behind him, alerting him of a smoker, Nick coughed as the smoke got thicker and it stung his eyes. "Not to ruin the moment but there's a smoker nearby and the building's on fire. We should probably get out of here." He coughed again, smoke from both the fire and a nearby smoker was making his lungs burn.  
The smile on Coach's face turned into a frown. 

"Agreed. Lets get going."


	7. "Not the hat, man!"

Chapter 6: "Not the hat, man!"

Nick was getting heavy on his back and his arms were tiring the longer the four went on through the building, desperate to escape the fire. His eyes watered from the smoke and he was sure the other three were suffering the same burn in both his lungs and eyes. They didn't get much farther when they were starting to be circled by infected. "Run Ellis!" He heard Nick cry from his back. Ellis nodded and made to move but frowned when his legs wouldn't budge. Looking at them quickly, he looked back up and made to move through the small opening through the horde that was quickly approaching. Yet he got the same result. Panicking, he turned to look up at the conman, Coach and Rochelle shooting around them.

"Nick! My legs ain't movin'! Why can't I move?!" it was clear in his voice how shaky and frightened he was. He saw Nick's eyes scan the room and his teeth clenched. "I know kid. My arms arn't listening to me either!" Next thing either of them knew, Ellis took off in a bolt. Coach let out a startled yell before running after them, followed by Rochelle. Ellis would have been relieved that they were continuing on the way but the problem was, the mechanic couldn't control his own legs. It was like they had minds of their own.  
"Damn it kid! Where are you going?! Stop! You're going to get us killed!" Nick cried out, shooting at any infected that got near them. "Fuck! Why am I shooting?! I'm not doing this! What;s going on?!" So the brunette wasn't the only one being effected. Despite going the right way, the whole ordeal was frightening him. Coach and Rochelle were the only two that seemed to have any control of themselves.

Elevator...

…watch out for hunter...

...Run, run, run!

Those were voices. Voices Ellis heard in his head. But it wasn't him. What was doing this to him and what was a hunter?! His legs moved faster as a growl was heard nearby.

...Best glitch ever...

There the voice was again! Ellis shook his head. "Shut up! Stop this!" He cried and instantly, his legs halted and the voices vanished. There was the feeling of control going back into his body and he instantly tested his legs. Shaking one, he almost cried in relief when it obeyed him. On his back, Nick sighed as he lowered his arms like he had held them up for hours instead of fifteen minutes.

"Kid." He heard the man whisper. "I don't know what you did, but thanks." This was the first thanks Ellis had gotten from the man and the mechanic would have beamed but didn't considering that he had no clue how he managed to get their own bodies to obey them again.

A scream from Rochelle broke them out of their thoughts and saw the woman on her back, pinned to the ground by an infected with a hoodie. "Hunter!" Nick yelled and shot the thing off her just as it was preparing to tear into her. It flopped to the ground with a gurgle and Coach pulled her up, giving the now panting woman a hug in comfort before releasing her. Inside Ellis' head clicked. That was the name the voices gave it. Nick knew it too. Does Nick have a connection with what happened? Ellis immediately abandoned that thought. No. The conman had been just as freaked out as he was.

"Thanks Nick." She thanked breathlessly. He shrugged. "Lets get going before this falls down on us."  
The four survivors managed to escape the building, not one of them commenting on the strange incident that had happened in the fire. The truck was still there, undamaged but still low on gas. Ellis got Nick in the passenger seat before offering Rochelle the driver seat. Nick gave him a look and the mechanic replied to the look with 'Ladies first.' She just smiled and shook her head.

"Thanks you sweetie but no. I think dad and I would prefer the bed of the truck. I believe we'll feel safer there." Coach nodded and responded with his own "We'll keep watch from the rear while Nick covers the front." Ellis just scratched his head, unsure how to respond.

"Ok." He said after a few minutes of scratching his head. "But we need to stop and rest soon. Nick 'n I have been driving for hours and we left this mornin'."  
Coach rubbed his chin. "There was a safe room a little further that way," he pointed the way the truck was facing. "The military left it there for any survivors when the evacuation is done." Nick responded with a nod. "Then we better get moving." He agreed. "Everyone hop in the truck, it's going to be a long night." The second Rochelle and Coach were in the bed of the truck and Ellis had gotten Nick in the passanger seat, the mechanic shook the con man for his attention.

"I ain't goin' crazy am I?" Ellis asked, biting his lip. "I mean, I couldn't control a single part of me. An' I heard voices. Sayin' stuff that I didn't know. Like one of them hunters. I didn't see it until I heard the voice say it. And there were two of them." Nick stared at him with a hard gaze. Hie eyes were calculating before he turned his head away and smirked.  
"Nah, kid." He answered. "You asked I you were crazy. If you were crazy, then you wouldn't know it. Besides, even if you were, then we'd have bait for the infected." He gave a chuckle. 

Ellis frowned. "Not cool, Nick." He muttered and went around the truck to climb in the drivers seat. The mecanic got in just in time to hear the other man whisper. "I know kid. I won't let you die on me again." Ellis kept quiet and drove.


	8. "The Safe room Memories"

Chapter 7: "The Safe room Memories"

(Nick's memory)

"Ellis," Nick chirped as the bottle of rum rolled from his hand. The place the four survivors had taken refuge in had been a bar and the conman had apparently wasted not time to get...well...wasted. Rolling, the man fell to the floor and his ass. Yet, instead of cursing or making any other movement, Nick just giggled as he sat there on the floor; the bar stool on it's side behind him. Face red from the alcohol, Nick laid down on his back, kicking his feet in the air and his arms wrapping around himself closely.

"Nick? Shit Nick. Watcha' doin' on th' floor for? Have a fight with th' stool er somthin'?" Ellis came into view, standing above the intoxicated, giggling conman, with his hands crossed in front of him as he stared at Nick. Nick answered with another giggle, letting his feet fall to the floor finally. "I fell, Ellis." He chirped again as a large smile pulled on his face. Ellis gave a small chuckle, letting his arms fall to his sides.

"Ya' did, didn't ya." More of a statement than question. Nick just stared at him with that smile and raised his arms to the mechanic like a child begging to be picked up. Ellis just sighed and bent down, lifting the conman with a hug, raising the other man to his feet with difficulty. Legs wobbling under him, Nick tightened his weak grip around his friend as Ellis practically dragged him to a booth, laying him down. The conman whined as the warmth left when the mechanic stood back up and wiped his brow, hitting his hat to the side by accident. "Don' worry man." Ellis comforted him by placing a hand to Nick's knee. "I'll be back with a blanket. Maybe a pillow." He took his hand, aiming to leave when Nick grabbed onto it as he retreated.

"Nooo.." Nick whined weakly, almost tugging the younger man down with him when he fell back. Yanking on the tanned arm, Ellis let out a startled cry as he was forced to lay on top the older man. "You're warm. Stay. I want to have fun." The mechanic yelped as he felt Nick's hands begin to wonder and he bolted up and away instantly, brushing his shirt to get rid of wrinkles. Nick whined again but gave no move as to go after him.

Taking off his hat, Ellis scratched his head and sighed, shifting he weight. Nick must have meant this when he told the younger man he tried not to drink around other men. Placing his hat back on his head, he looked back to the conman and found him to be dozing off. With a smile, Ellis turned and left, off to hunt for a blanket to cover Nick up with.  
He could only chuckle, thinking that maybe it was a good thing he volunteered to search for Nick instead of Coach. The other man would have decked Nick so hard that he'd have a broken nose for a week.

Nick's eyes opened slowly. They felt like sandpaper and hurt to move them. He was remembering again. That had been the night just before Ellis' death. The conman brought the blanket he was covered in closer to himself and snuggled his face into the scratchy fabric. He had been so hung over and Ellis had been so worried about him. It should have been Nick who got crushed by the car. It should have been him because if Nick hadn't been so hungover, Coach wouldn't have stuck near him and Ellis wouldn't have run after him just as the car was heading their way.

"Nick?" A quiet voice broke out from the heavy breathing in the small safe room. It was Ellis, but not his Ellis. Looking up from the blanket, he could barely spot two tired green eyes meeting his gray ones. The younger man was watching him with a worried glance from his sleeping bag. "Nick?" The man crawled out of his sleeping bag and plopped right beside the conman, rubbing the man's black hair. "It's okay. Ya' don' have ta' cry anymore. It was just a dream." Blinking, Nick felt tars run from his eyes and down his apparent wet face. He hadn't even noticed he had been crying. Had he been crying in his sleep?

"M'fine." Nick croaked out. "I'm okay now." He wanted to reassure the younger man that he was indeed fine, that he was alright. He wanted to convince himself that it had truly been a dream. But then he'd have been lying. He wasn't fine, he wasn't going to be fine, and that hadn't been a dream but a memory. And this Ellis knew it too. So he let the familiar stranger run his fingers in his hair as he cried softly, letting a whimper and a sob loose from those pale lips oh his. Trying to keep from making any more noise, he covered his face in the blanket once again. Unfortunately, all that did was allow him to cry out more vocally and soon enough, Ellis had him in his arms, letting the older man cry on his shoulder as he held on tightly to him.

His crying had woke the other two. They made a move to say something but whether it was Ellis shaking his head or the sight of a grown man crying into the mechanic's shoulder; they said nothing, choosing to lay back down and trying to ignore the heart shattering sobs that echoed throughout the safe room. They weren't worried about zombies hearing him. The red barred doors were strong enough to withstand a tank.

"Do ya' have ta' smoke?" Ellis asked from beside the conman as he smoked. "Ya' know, those things will kill ya' and then we'll have another type of smoker out there." The joke was only half ominous. Nick just grinned as he took a deep breath of the nicotine before blowing it into the younger man's face, watching as Ellis' face scrunch up in disgust as he shook the smoke away with his hand.

"Just a simple 'ya' would have done ya' know." The mechanic muttered, picking at the grass poking through the concrete of the once was sidewalk. Nick gave an inward chuckle as he took another breath, taking the cigarette away from his lips and exhaled. "Yeah, I know." He stated, grinning at the other. "But this is more fun."  
Ellis just scowled at him and went back to the dead grass he was plucking one by one. Nick smirked and looked at the starry sky, taking another drag from the cigarette. His addiction was a risk in some ways. Zombies didn't like the smell of smoke. The common feared the special but smoking risked attracting an actual smoker to them. Tonight, they had enough luck to be able to sit outside the door and not a single zombie appeared.

"This kind of reminds me of how Keith and I used to go around stealing the neighbors outhouses." Ellis began, laughing as he shook his head at the memory. Nick just watched him, letting out a breath of smoke away from his friend. "Well, not steal really. Keith and I would go around the neighborhood and attach the outhouses to his truck. We'd find a way to place the outhouses in the most random places. They'd never go to far from the houses. We managed to get one on the guy's roof once. We'd go around at night so's we wouldn't be seen. We hooked this one outhouse to the truck and began to drive away with it when we heard a scream." Nick raised an eyebrow but said nothing. This was one story he wanted to hear.

"Well, Keith stopped the truck but in his panic, he had slammed on the breaks and we almost went though the windshield. Anyway, there had been a poor elderly woman in there and we unhooked it and bolted away. It turned out to be Mrs. Keen. Keith and I felt so bad that whenever we could, we'd do work for her. Like mow her grass and any other yard work around. She'd smile and feed us cookies and stuff because we refused any money. She never found out it was us and we never told her. We never did that stunt ever again."  
Nick blinked. "You're cruel." Was all he said and faced forward again with a grin on his face. "Wha-" Ellis sputtered. "We made it up ta' her. We worked for her 'til she passed away." 

He protested but stopped when he noticed the smirk on Nick's face. Ellis glared. "Well, fuck ya' too Nick. You're an ass."

But the glare didn't last long before the mechanic too was smirking. Nick caught it and his gray eyes shone in humor. "Still think so, kid?" He asked. Ellis snorted back a laugh and scratched the back of his neck. "Ya, I do." Ellis stated but punched Nick's shoulder lightly. "But that's alright. I still like ya' anyway." Nick just chuckled and took another long breath on the cigarette.

The next time Nick woke up, he was on his side with his face in the mechanic's chest with said mechanic's arms around his waist. Groaning, he shoved the man's arms away and sat up, his legs stinging like he had pins and needles poking them. Frowning lightly, he began to stand with difficulty. His legs hurt to use but he could stand again. Standing at full height he let his arms hang out at his sides for balance and hissed as pain went though his legs as he took his first tentative step. Not in the mood to cheer, he was at least relieved at the face that he was gaining his ability to walk again.

Looking up at a smell that touched his nose, he sniffed softly, and smiled at the delicious smell. Whatever it was, it was sweet and he wanted some right now. Carefully, he walked on his wobbly legs to the area the smell came from. There was Coach at the stove, flipping a pancake in the skillet in his hand. Hearing a noise, he turned and smiled at Nick. "Hey, Nick was it?" Nick nodded, eye twitching at Coach's cheerful tone. "Here, help yourself. I-ah. I made too much didn't I?" Both of them let their eyes linger to a large plate stacked with pancakes. Coach's smile fell and he sighed.

"Just like I always do. I do too much. Ever since Marlene up and left, It was just Rochelle and I and since she was little, she'd have a lot of friends over and they'd always want pancakes when they got up in the morning. Lets just say I had to learn quick."

Nick chuckled as he sat down after filling a plate with some food. "Don't worry about it. I'm sure the kid will eat it all up. Hint, I don't mean Rochelle." Coach just responded with a weak laugh and sat down with his own pancakes. "Mmmmm, Smells good, Dad." Rochelle piped in as she appeared in the room, quickly and eagerly grabbing a plate of pancakes, taking a spare seat. Nick rolled his eyes and ate, along with Coach and Rochelle.

"Is that pancake I smell!?" Ellis asked as he practically ran in the kitchen, wearing nothing but a pair of blue shorts. Coach huffed. "Boy, where are your pants?" Ellis blinked in the doorway and looked down at himself before looking back at Coach, shrugging. "This was what I was wearing underneath my mechanic suit. Ya' know I work on cars and they get messy and th' suit keeps my clothes clean. But that thing get really hot." The mechanic trudged quickly, got his pancakes and began searching through the cabnets.

"No syrup boy. You have to eat these bare." Rochelle laughed as she ate, having heard that many times growing up when they ran out of syrup. Ellis whined. "But it's so dry then." There was a pause. "Oh my good Lord! There's this!" Nick was too busy eating and rubbing his pounding head to look up and see what Ellis had found.

"Oh, gross! Sweety, are you sure you want to put that on your pancakes? It doesn't look all that good." Rochelle complained, putting her fork down on the plate as she stared at Ellis. Curious now, Nick looked at the hick to see that the kid was putting grape jam, of all things, all over his pancakes. He just rolled his eyes and went back to eating. "Well, sure. Keith tol' me that it was delicious. I always wanted ta' try but neither of us could make pancakes." Ellis answered and started eating. He paused in mid chew, eyes going wide and he froze. The mechanic was frozen for a while before going back to eating as if there was nothing wrong. Rochelle just made a face and finished off her food.

Nick couldn't tell if Ellis liked what he was eating with his pancakes or not since he didn't show. None of them said a word as they ate. Once all they could eat were gone and the rest of the pancakes packed up for the rest of the trip, Coach finally spoke up. "So where do we go now? I'm guessing we all are sticking together. What is are next destination?" Ellis immediately turned to look at Nick as if he was looking for guidance. Nick glared at him from the corner of his eyes. He didn't know what was worse, the situation or the fact that he had suddenly taken Coach's place as leader in said situation. Either way, this pissed him off. But nether-less, Nick took it in stride. No, this was his second chance. No matter how weird or how unnatural going through this all over again, he was going to get all of them to safety. And he means for every single damn one of them. Especially Ellis.  
Losing the glare, his eyes softened. 

Maybe this was why he was reliving all this. Maybe Ellis was meant to survive and he was supposed to save him. It would explain how Nick was able to remember everything but the others couldn't. Turning to face all of them, he looked them over.

"We need to get to the mall. There's supposed to be another safe room there. After that, we keep heading north. No matter what, North is our option. There's a safe haven there for survivors. But before we can start this trip, we need weapons.


	9. Chapter 9

(Memory begins)

“Damn it Ellis! Couldn't you wait?!” Nick ground out, the gun in his hand shook at his side. He and Ellis were on a traditional supply run while Rochelle took care of Coach's wounds from the witch that Nick had accidentally tripped on. The rain outside had gotten harder and the group was blinded by the heavy rain and wind. Mind you, this was nothing compared to that nasty storm back in Savannah where they had to walk across buildings to avoid getting swept up in the flood, but the thunder and lightning were just as bad if not worse. Standing outside a nearby, almost decently clean outhouse, Ellis shoved his shotgun into Nick's hand.

 

“Nah, man! I can't hold it in anymore. I got ta' go now.” The younger man had responded and hurried into the outhouse, locking it firmly. Nick almost snorted. That dinky lock wouldn't stand a chance against the infected out there, which oddly were few in the area at the moment. In fact, it was eerily calm and it set the conman on edge. Armed with his pistol and Ellis' shotgun, he turned to the outhouse door to inform the hick that he was going to look around for any hordes in which Ellis had responded with an “uh-huh.”

 

Cautiously, Nick held the shotgun out, prepared to shoot as he went around the building that the outhouse was behind. Nothing. The street was empty for once. He felt his eyebrow twitch and he gripped the gun tighter in his hands as he daringly walked further into the street and further in the open, away from where the man he was guarding was taking a shit. Jumping as lightning flashed across the sky, he huffed and shook off the momentary fright as his now free hand jammed itself into his pocket, wishing he had some cigarettes. He had run out about a week ago and he had been craving them badly. Giving a sigh, he slowly took his hand out. No use in reminding himself of his addiction.

 

Aiming the gun again, he was about to go further into the street, now soaking to the bone in which he was lucky his suit jacket was thick enough to keep him warm despite the water now soaking it, when there was another flash and a clatter so loud, it had Nick bolting to the ground and behind a broken down car, covering his ears which were now ringing and his eyes clinched shut as he curled into a ball; both the shotgun and pistol had been left behind, laying on the ground where he had dropped them in his hurry to find cover. It wasn't long that a cry echoed back to his ringing ears. Nick forced himself to scramble up, that was Ellis!

 

As he ran passed the car he had hid behind, he grabbed the guns, prepared to shoot any zombie that got near him or the kid. Nick hadn't wandered off to far apparently for he soon found himself back in the area in two minutes and his feet froze where they stood. His mouth dropped in shock and his eyes widened at the sight in front of him. The outhouse was smoking. The top of the plastic roof had been melted away, leaving a large hole and scorch mark and there, standing outside the outhouse with his overalls to his knees but his briefs on, was Ellis, hair sticking up, hat off to his side, on the ground, his face was all black and charcoal; clothes in the same state, and his face held such horror. Like he had just seen his grandparents having sex.

 

It took time for Nick to process what must have happened and when it clicked, he let out the most gut clinching laugh he had ever done, falling to the wet ground, he held his sides as the guns once again found themselves on the ground. Ellis seemed to snap out of his fright but only a little bit as the look still remained on his face. Refusing to move, the younger man just stared at the older one, rolling on the ground.

 

“I....Um....Ih...Uh......mmmmm....” Ellis seemed to be stumbling over words. That had to be the most terrifying thing to ever happen. Even Keith didn't have this happen to him. “I....I-I got struck by lighting Nick.” Ellis babbled, finally finding his ability to speak again as his arms moved on their own in jerking movements.

 

Nick clinched his teeth, trying to stop laughing as he managed to at least stand up without falling back over but not enough to keep him upright. “You're telling me!” Nick cackled as his eyes filled with tears which blended in with the rain as they fell. “You got struck with lighting alright! Struck by lightning in the shitter!” He cackled again. Ellis stared at him abashed. “Why you laughing?! I coulda been killed in tha'!”

 

The conman took a deep breath which was more like a sharp gasp. “No you wouldn't have.” Nick assured through his laughing. “You're too much of a stubbern bastard to die in that!”

 

The mechanic huffed in disbelief, finally moving toward the older man. “Not cool, Nick. An' stop laughin' at me!” Nick shook his head at the mechanic. “Not a chance, kid. This is going to stick with you for the rest of your life! Now come on, we got to get back to hunting for food. Rochelle and Coach are waiting for me and your scorched ass.” Ellis only responded with a glare as he flipped the bird at Nick.

 

When they got back to the safe room and the other two questioned what happened to Ellis, Nick responded with “The kid tried to kiss a broken lamp post.” Which he got a smack on the shoulder by the kid himself.

(Memory End)  
OOO

“Ah man! Eh, Coach! Look! Jimmy Gibbs Jr. was supposed ta' be here!” Ellis cried as he pointed to the poster hanging in tatters on a window in a shop they passed, swerving the car slightly as he yelled out the window of Keith's truck. Honestly, despite Nick's urgency, Ellis had chosen to go a bit slow as to not hit pot holes or anything else that might damage the car tires.

 

“Seriously?! Did you see where it said he was supposed to be at?” Coach responded from the back after seeing the poster that Ellis had pointed at when they passed it. Nick remained quiet, rubbing his temples as his head began to pound. He had heard this conversation between all three of them-Coach, Ellis, and Rochelle- and he was all too familiar about how they all loved that race car driver.

“Nah, sorry man. Was goin' too fast.” Ellis called back, excitement all gone now as he sat in his seat and closing the window, staring gloomily at the road, hitting infected as they went. It was a comforting five minutes of silence to the conman and he debated if he should sleep or not since there was no danger at the present moment.

 

“Nick.” the conman grumbled as the mechanic spoke to him. Glancing over to the kid, who refused to look at him. “Yeah, kid?” He asked, shifting a little in his seat, adjusting his rifle. Ellis took a breath of air. “You said tha' you know me and what's gonna happen.” There was a pause. Nick remained quiet, knowing more was going to be said. “So tell me this. What ever happens ta' Jimmy Gibbs Jr.?” Of course, the younger man wanted to know about his idle. That, the older man could not fault him. If he had an idle in this apocalypse, he'd want to know too.

 

“Would you feel better knowing, kid? You might not want to know the answer.” This was a warning. Trying to hint that the news wasn't good. Nick could see Ellis' hands tighten on the steering wheel and his shoulders stiffen.

 

“I know. And no, it wouldn't make me feel better. I jus'.....I feel like I need ta' know. Ya' know?” was the hick's response. “Please, Nick. Please tell me.” At this, Nick's grey eyes scanned Ellis' face. The man could react any way, judging by the Ellis that the conman knew. The mechanic could start yelling and slamming his hands against the steering wheel as he ranted, or he could go really silent for a really long time. The Ellis Nick knew, often went silent when he was depressed and go into a fit when he was frustrated, angry, or confused.

 

“Nick?” Ellis' shaky voice broke him out of his thoughts and he sighed, closing his eyes momentarily. “Don't come to me every time you want to know what's going to happen. I'm not your personal Dr. Who.” The mechanic snorted. “S'not how Dr. Who works man. Anyway, tell me.”

 

Nick sighed again. “You're not going to leave me alone until I tell you, are you? Fine. Do you want me to tell it bluntly or sugar coat it?”

 

“Nick.” The mechanic warned impatiently. “I don' care. Jus' tell me already damn it!” His hands slammed on the wheel. Nick smirked at the familiar sight but lost it immediately. “All right. But I warn you, you won't like it. To be blunt, he was going to be at the mall that we're heading to when the infection hit. He...got turned shortly after. I don't know how. But you don't have to worry, kid. He'll be dead by the time we get there. If I remember correctly, his body isn't too far from his car. But I can't be sure.” As he spoke, he watched the mechanic's face intently. Catching the kid's eyes squint a little as they moisten with tears.

 

“He didn't suffer?” Ellis sounded very much like a child who was told that his pet had gotten killed by a car. Moment of weakness, Nick's hand clasped Ellis' nearby tense shoulder. “No, kid. The CEDA made sure he didn't suffer.” personally, Nick had no clue if that was true. All he knew was that when he was first there, the guy was already dead and at the time, he made sure that his Ellis didn't see him by hiding the body in a trashcan, despite saying over and over how much he hated the group he traveled with. Now, Nick wasn't stubborn enough to hide his feelings from the group. Ellis' death had knocked that out of him.

 

Tears fell from those green eyes as the younger man let out a whimper. “S'not fair, Nick. S'not fair! Why did this have ta' happen?! I don't understand. Why Jimmy Gibbs Jr.?! He was all I had 'sides Mama an' Keith!” Watching Ellis cry harder, Nick clenched his hand tighter. “Not anymore, Ellis. Now you got Coach and Rochelle.” He comforted with a smirk.

 

Ellis's whimpering stopped slightly and a small, weak smile graced his lips. “An' you Nick. I have you too, don' I?” Surprise covered the conman's face but didn't stay there as he returned the grin. “Yeah, Kid. You have me too.”

OOO  
OOO

The mall was just as Nick remembered it all those weeks ago. Broken and trashy-empty of any and all objects that had been looted at the beginning of the apocalypse. Hopping out of the truck, the others followed Nick's lead. Keeping his eyes peeled, the rifle felt heavy in his hand. In a way, Nick felt a slight bit of guilt for him being the only one with a large gun. All the others had were weapons that seemed like they wouldn't last in this. Coach had a magnum while Rochelle had was a small pistol In Ellis' hand was the bloody crowbar that Nick had dragged with him from the casino he had found himself in.

 

“Mind explaining why exactly we're here.” Coach grumbled, leaping elegantly from the bed of the truck. Nick turned his attention to the elder of the group with a frown. That was a good question. Aside from Jimmy Gibbs Jr.'s car, there wasn't any real reason to be here. The only reason they came here was because the conman was following events from memory. Now that Coach had brought the subject up, the whole way here seemed pointless. But as his eyes fell on Keith's beaten up old pick up truck, he knew that it wouldn't last as far as the race car would. It was low on gas as it was and it had become even more beaten up than what it had been before.

 

“You're idle was going to visit here. Remember the poster?” the other three nodded, Ellis looking rather gloomy and depressed. “His car is in this mall.” Nick finished with a click of his tongue, a habit he had developed during his first escape through the hordes of the country. Coach and Rochelle both gave him disbelieving looks which made the conman shift on his feet. He hadn't really thought anything through. Right now, he was pretty much running on auto pilot and his thoughts had turned to mush.

 

“And how exactly would you have known that.....Nick, was it?” Nick nodded at Rochelle, though now he was tensing up. How was he supposed to explain this slip-up? “Right. What makes you think that? For all we know, the only thing in there could be the infected.” In defeat, Nick went to open his mouth to spout off some excuse he could think of.

 

“The posters.” Ellis piped up, cutting any chances of Nick responding off. The man in question sighed mentally as his body relaxed a bit again. Both Rochelle and Coach turned to the mechanic standing a good few feet away at the side of the building, seeing him staring at one of many posters plastered on the wall. Ellis pointed to one, half turning his body to face them. “It says here tha' he was going ta' announce the next race here. Ya know, normally when racers do tha' they have there cars with them.” He stated, face brightening at a sudden thought going through his mind. “OH MAI GOD! WE GET TA' DRIVE IN JIMMY GIBBS JR.'S CAR!”

 

“Hush, overalls! You want to alert the horde to us!” Nick scolded, going over to Ellis, grabbing his arm and dragging the excited boy back to the group. “And stay close to us. The worst thing to do is to separate.” With his lecture finished, he let the mechanic's arm who didn't appear to have heard a word with how bright his eyes shone. Coach pulled his magnum out.

 

“Boy, the man's right. Just stay with us, alright?” Coach said gently. Ellis nodded quickly and the elder's gaze landed on the conman with a suspicious look. “Alright, We'll accept this, this time.” He said, ignoring Rochelle's slightly outraged look aimed at him. “But if this happens again, I want an honest answer.” He finished kindly. Nick could only nod. Rochelle frowned, not happy with the decision but quickly loaded her pistol.

 

“Alright, now that, that's done. Can we get going? I rater not be swarmed by zombies right now.” She questioned, making jerky movements which was a sign of her anxiety. Nick lifted his rifle. “Yeah, Roch. But while we're in there, keep an eye out for anything that might be helpful. Like health packs and better weapons. Oh yeah! Ammo too. All of us need to keep an eye out for that too.” The conman answered which got a nod from all three of them.

 

“Good, let's get moving.”

OOO

“You ever have a nice girl before this, overalls?” Nick questioned from his spot on the roof of the building. He was laying on his back, smoking. His head resting on his free arm, staring at the night sky and full moon that shown over them. Ellis sat beside him, nibbling on what could be called dinner for him which was a large chunk of bread. Dull green eyes landed on Nick's detracted gray ones. “Naw, not really. I almost had one though.” The hick answered, taking another bite out of his stale food. “Nice girl too. But turns out she preferred other ladies.”

 

Nick turned his head to gaze over the younger man's face and seemed satisfied when there was no change in his tired expression. “Sorry, Kid.” What he was sorry for, he had no clue. Personally, he didn't give a damn but with Ellis, who knows. Said man just shrugged his shoulders. “It's not like I was upset 'bout it. I was happy for her. There just wasn't any......connection. No feelings at all.” Nick said nothing and just turned to look at the sky and took another breath of his cigarette.

 

“Why do you ask?” Ellis questioned, breaking the five seconds of silence. The conman shrugged. “Dunno. I just wanted to know.” another puff of the cigarette. Ellis gave a click of his tongue, a habit that Nick would soon adopt. “You have a girl, Nick?” he asked, finishing off his food and leaning back on his hands, staring at the stars as well.

 

“Hmmm....” Nick hummed, making a smoke ring. “I was married once. Well, twice actually. I got divorced twice as well.” Flicking his cigarette away, he used that same hand to reach into his pocket and pulled out a medium sized locked. In it, was a picture of a little girl with ebony hair and blue eyes. “This was my daughter. Second wife took here away when she decided to leave.” He handed the locket to the hick who took it and looked at it, smile forming on his face.

 

“She's very pretty, Nick. Looks like you......Only better.....Well, you look good but not......You know what I mean.” Ellis looked down with his face red with embarrassment as he handed the locket back. Nick took it, chuckling. “I know, kid. I told everyone she had my good looks.” His smile fell. “I don't even know if she's alive. I pray that if there's a God out there,that she's still alive.” Clearing his throat from the burn that normally came with crying. Neither said a word. It was quiet aside from Nick clearing his throat when Ellis risked asking, “What was her name?”

 

“Abby.” Nick responded with a croak. “My little angel's name was Abby. She was one. I haven't seen her in about a few months now.” Ellis took a breath before laying back like Nick, poking the older man in the cheek. “I'm sure she's still alive.” Nick snorted. “I doubt it. It's not likely, Kid. Thanks for the thought though.”

 

“How do ya' know I'm not serious?”

OOO  
OOO

 

“Here they come!” Coach's booming voice broke Nick out of his memory and he lifted his rifle, shaking his head to clear it. Indeed, there in the middle of the mall, they were quickly being swarmed. Raising his gun, he began shooting along with the other two as Ellis began beating his way with the crowbar. The four had made a circle as they fought.

 

“Hey! There's something there!” Ellis yelled out as he began to beat his way through the horde, getting his arm scratched, making him exclaim in pain lightly. Hearing Ellis' hiss, he turned to see the kid out of the horde, killing off any that came near him. Nick felt his heart almost stop as he watched his friend disappear into the darkness of the mall and the horde mass.

 

“Boomer!” Rochelle called out. Somehow, while Nick had been detracted, all three of them had gotten separated in a mile wide space. But her call came too late. The second she yelled, the conman felt the nasty ooze cover him from head to toe. Nick wanted to puke himself of the feeling, smell, and the thought of getting puked on. Crying out in his disgust and horror, he did what he could to get the vile stuff off of him. With an explosion behind him erupted and more of the puke got on him, he could only guess that the boomer was killed.

 

“Look out, Nick!” Coach hollered, sounding a slight bit closer than when Nick last saw him. But Nick couldn't look. The puke had him blinded as the nasty gunk covered his eyes in a thick, disgusting layer. He dared not shoot in case he hit any of the other three. Instead, he did what he could, bashing anything he could. His arms were quickly tiring and his body was shaking from the effort of all the wounds he was getting from the infected that surrounded him, puke acting as bait for any infected in the area.

 

“NICK!” That's all that was shrieked. That was all he heard before a thick, long tongue wrapped around his neck. A smoker stood three floors, hanging the conman. Dropping the gun, Nick gasped as he was lifted off the ground, his hands grabbing onto the tongue, trying to pry it away. His dangling feet flailed as he was lifted a little higher and he began to wiggle in air, struggling against his attacker. His mouth opened and closed. No words came out and no air went in. He was suffocating. Slowly, Nick felt his vision failing and his body shutting down. In his light headed state, he wondered what could be worse than being strangled by a smoker. He wondered where the others were. Why weren't they helping? Did they leave him behind? “Get off him you son of a bitch!!!!” was that Ellis?

 

The conman didn't have to wait long as a loud bang echoed and he felt his body land to the ground with a painful crack, pain hitting him afterward. Gasping for air, he groaned loudly, almost crying out as he felt hands touch his back. “My arm! My arm! I landed on my arm! My god, I think it's broken!” He could hear himself cry out but it seemed someone else was yelling. Nick was in so much pain, Neck and lungs sore from being strangled and held into the air, his body from the cuts and gashes from the normal infected, his eyes from the boomer puke stinging his eyes, and his head and arm from the fall. Another set of hands rested on him, turning him over carefully before inspecting his right arm; the one he landed on. Nick almost screamed with how much pain wracked his body as the hands paused in their inspection.

 

“Boy, his arm is broken in at least three places. We need to get out of here. Back to the truck.” That was Coach. Oh, Nick was grateful for Coach at that moment. “We don't have to go back to the truck!” Rochelle piped up. “There's a safe room! Just like Nick said at the last one! Hurry, everyone in here before they all come back!”

 

The last thing Nick remembered before pain knocked him out was being lifted into strong arms, his broken arm resting on his stomach.


	10. Chapter 10

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Warning: There is gore in this. As in organs. It is a zombie story after all.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The chances of there being a memory in each chapter is pretty high so watch for them. You can skip them if you want, they just tell the story between the Ellis that died and Nick. I'm trying to get my stories updated so “Lie to Me” and “Business Rivalry” are stories I'm stuck on. I'm not sure when I will update them but I'm trying.

Chapter 9

(Memory Begins)

Nick was only ten years old when he and his sixteen year old sister got locked into his room. He had been having problems with his door for as long as he could remember. The house was old and rickety. Not the kind of old where it was fifty years old, but the kind of old that was around since the 1940's so there were bound to be problems, much like the one Nick and his sister found themselves in. His father had wanted to change the locks but never got the chance with all the work he had to do every other place in the house like the shingles, the walls, the floor, carpeting, bills, you name it, they probably had it.

Nick always hated to be stuck in a room. Not being able to get away from something was always his biggest fear. His sister Gabby knew it too and she was doing her best to keep him calm but it wasn't enough to stop the tears from falling. At the time, the conman hadn't been ashamed to cry, especially around his sister. She was his best friend and he could tell her anything. Holding her brother close, she rubbed a hand through his black hair while humming a song their mother sang to Nick since he was a year old. Nick pushed his face into his sister's neck, trying to find comfort in her arms as he once did their mother before she had gotten sick. Their mother had been prone to illness and passed away a month after getting ill, leaving their sailor father, a single dad of two kids.

“It's alright, Nicky.” His sister comforted as she rubbed his back, hearing his sobs in her ear. “Dad will find us when he gets home.” Nick almost froze in his shaking. He didn't want to be found by their dad. In fact, their dad was the last person he wanted to see him cry. The man would look at his only son with a firm glare, looking down at him passed his chin and his brows furrowed in his disappointment. “Toughen up, boy” his dad would say. “How do you expect to be respected if all you can to is cry. Be a man.” He knew his dad meant well, but he wasn't the best person to go to if you had feelings. The man was an old sea dog. Born to live life on the ocean. The man was in the Navy. He lived it, breathed it, experienced it, and he had wanted his only son to join it.

The roaring sound of an old 1979 Buick pulled into the driveway, making the sound of backfiring when it was put into park. Their dad had gotten their mom that car the same day that Nick was born. She was in the delivery room when he left to get her that for a gift. She was really delighted when she had seen that new car in front of her with a large red bow on top, new baby boy sleeping in her arms after twelve hours of labor.

Nick could hear the door open and the sound of heavy feet clomping around the house. After a while of going though the house, the clomping quieted and stopped. “Kids!” Their father called out. “Where are you?! I have wonderful news!”

 

“We're in Nick's room Daddy!” Gabby hollered back. “We're locked in! The door finally caved!”

 

The stomping feet came up the stairs and halted in front of Nick's room. “Gabrielle? Nicolas? How on earth- never mind. You both alright?”

 

“Daddy, can you get us out? Please. Nick doesn't like it.” She begged, holding her brother a little tighter. There was a huff from the other side.

 

“That's a shame isn't it. Well you two will have to wait! I have great news! I got a promotion! We can finally get a better house soon.”

 

“Daddy.” Gabby Mumbled as she looked apologetic to her crying brother while their father continued on. It was an hour before their father got them out.

(Memory End)

One thing Nick was aware of as he was waking up was the soft yet frantic movement of hands replacing the bandages on his arms. The sweet smell of vanilla perfume hit his nose telling him that Rochelle was nearby.

 

“What 'bout his ribs?” He heard Ellis question. Pain flaired through him as the hands jerked the arm quickly. “They need wrappin' too.” The hick stated as his boots made a loud noise when he walked against the wooden floor.

 

“You don't wrap ribs, boy. Especially if they're cracked. You need to let them heal naturally.” Coach piped up. Ellis must have been giving a confused look because the man continued. “If you wrapped cracked ribs, they won't heal properly. It will do more damage than good, son. Nick will need to be careful for a while so they heal correctly.” The hands left his broken arm. Taking a deep breath, he almost cried out as pain flared through his body. Then he almost laughed at the irony that he seemed to be in pain these days. Groaning, he fought off a gasp. He felt like he was suffocating. It hurt for him to breathe.

“Nick?” Ellis' voice was soft as he felt a hand touch his shoulder, causing a sharp pain wrack his body once again. “When did I get cracked ribs?” Nick rasped, appalled at how weak he sounded at that moment. Hissing, he gave a small movement, not seeing the sad blue eyes staring down at him. “It happened durin' the fight. Along with your broken arm.” Ellis answered. “Coach and Rochelle Patched you up with what we had but Coach said that we needed better supplies.” He rambled. The conman nodded with a grunt and once again tried to move but he was stopped by the pain in his ribs Giving up on moving with a huff, Nick lay there on the abandoned mattress before glaring at the mechanic.

 

“Is there something interesting that requires you to stare at me, Ellis?” He snarked, not really in the mood and in too much pain to care about the man's feelings. Ellis bit his lip, ignoring the other man's snide comment. “I foun' somthin' while we were fightin'...” The mechanic hesitated. “I think ya' need ta' see it.” The sad tone in Ellis' voice had him glance Ellis over. “What is it?” Nick asked, checking the younger man for injuries. Ellis shook his head. “I can't...” He took a quick glance to Coach and Rochelle who were barricading the door that they come through to get in the safe room.

 

Leaning forward, he whispered “I can't tell you it. I have ta' show you.” Then he pulled away.

OOO

It was this moment that Nick realized why Ellis had insisted they snuck out without Coach and Rochelle. They wouldn't believe what they were looking at. In fact, Nick himself didn't even believe what he was looking at. Lying before him was his body; yet, at the same time, wasn't his body. It was his counterpart. In this time, this Nick didn't survive the horde. The poor bastard died fighting with a bloody katana in hand, one that Ellis was now wielding. It was the same thing the kid used to cut Nick down from the smoker that had been choking him earlier.

“Didn't wanna believe it when I saw it. Thought it was you at first.” Ellis spoke mournfully, looking down at the body of Nick's dead counterpart. The nose of the conman crinkled distastefully at the sight before them. 

“That technically is me. As if things weren't fucked up before, it's apparent they are now.” He wanted to look away. An emotion he had no clue on how to describe was threatening to tear him apart. As he looked to the mechanic, Ellis seemed to be suffering the same fate, as clearly shown on his face.

“This ain't natural,” The hick stated, eyes darkening slightly. “Not that zombies were natural themselves but this...” He trailed off, eyes watering up. As strong as a man Ellis may be, seeing the body of the person standing beside you, was not something his brain could explain to him. Nick knew that feeling. That was the feeling he felt for the past few days ever since he fell asleep in that helicopter and waking up back at the start of all this. Overwhelmed; like what was happening wasn't properly registering in their heads.

 

“Nick, man....I'm startin' to freak out! What's this, man!?” Ellis asked, turning to the conman, eyes pleading for help as he pointed to the body. Nick's teeth were clenched so tightly, he felt as if they would shatter at any moment.

 

“How the fuck should I know?! I, myself, am trying not to panic! It's not like I know what to do! In case you forgot the past few minutes, it's MY BODY that we're looking at and YOU are freaking out?! Fuck you!” Ellis looked taken aback as he was forcefully snapped back to the reality of the present danger they were in. His head hung as he looked at the raging man in front of him.

“M...M'sorry Nick. You're right. It is your body. I just...I can't...It makes no sense.” Ellis' shamed mumbled apology barley reached Nick's ears and the older man huffed through his nose, a lame attempt to calm himself down.

 

“Yeah, well...” He looked at the bloody form of his counterpart, scanning over the mauled and mutilated body. “Hang on.” He continued and despite the pain in his body, he leaned forward and opened the once white suit coat of the corpse spotting blood that flowed freely from a large stomach wound that shown intestines and missing gaps where other guts recently resided visibly. Nick felt his body grow cold and his heard thumped wildly in his chest.

 

“Ellis.” he began, not caring if his voice went up an octave. “These injuries are fresh, very fresh. This Nick wasn't dead for very long. How long ago was it when you spotted it?” Ellis took off his hat and scratched his head before placing the hat back on. “Found it on a supply run while you were unconscious. So maybe, half an hour ago?”

Noticing Nick take a sharp intake of breathe, he knelt down beside the man, grabbing his shoulders carefully. “You ok? Don't hurt yourself.”

 

Nick shook Ellis' hands off his shoulders and stared at him, wide eyes and pale faced. “Never mind that! This guy wasn't dead long! At most, I'm guessing he was killed just before you found him. He must have died during the fight we had when we arrived.”

Ellis suddenly went pale as the realization dawned on him. “Tha' means he coulda' been saved! He died 'cause we didn't reach him in time.” Nick nodded slowly. If Nick had to guess, they were supposed to meet up with this guy somewhere down the line but because he himself had been hurt, they hadn't run into him which caused the his counterpart to get killed and from the looks of his stomach, he was being eaten just before Ellis found him.

 

“It might be worse than that, kid.” He spoke up, suddenly hearing fear leak into his voice. “What ever did this to him could still be here. We need to move and now.” He hissed as pain flared when he stood up, followed by Ellis, who looked at the body devastated at the fact that they hadn't saved the other man. Noticing this, Nick rested his good hand on the mechanic's arm and squeezed comfortingly. “You can't save everyone, kid. That's how life works.” He whispered, face softening. Years ago, he'd never act like this. “Ah, Nick. You're going soft. Are you actually starting to give a damn?” He would have said to himself. Then it would be followed by denial. Now, he did not know how to think. Ellis said nothing as his gaze was stuck on the corpse, nodding to let Nick know he was heard. The older man sighed before tapping the hick's arm. “Come on Ellis. We have to get out of here.” Another nod from the younger man. It was when they turned, that they were met with the most horrifying sight. In front of them was more of a large pile of flesh and organs on legs, one of the dead body's intestines hung from it's mouth and part of a stomach still held onto the end.

 

It towered over the two as it gazed at the survivors before it with dull yet alert eyes. It took only a moment before it slowly began to stumble to the two. “I...” Ellis gagged, horrified at what he was seeing, putting a hand to his now green face to keep himself from being sick all over. Nick followed the action, finding himself going green as puke made an attempt to leave his body. “I'm gonna be sick!!!” Ellis hollered through his fingers. Nick gagged in response. He could only agree.

 

The conman refused to lie about this. It was the most disgusting thing he had ever seen. This thing put all those most sickening movies to shame, especially the Human Centipede movies that he had seen. The worst part was, it was coming right for them with hungry eyes.

 

As it lumbered closer to the two frozen survivors, it stepped into what little light there was in the room, showing the thing's so called face as it moved. It was then that Ellis gave in and threw up, followed by Nick. The image and the knowledge of what it was and what it had done was bad enough, but what really made it worse was the fact that they both knew who it was.

 

Jimmy Gibbs Jr.

 

OOO

 

Keith wasn't sure what to make of the so called sanctuary. Personally, if you asked him, it didn't really feel like a sanctuary without his buddy. His best buddy, Ellis. The fact that the CEDA couldn't wait one damn more minute before taking off pissed him off worse than the bull that got it's horn tangled in Keith's underwear as it charged while they were trespassing. To get back, he had been causing all sorts of chaos, doing what he could to keep Ellis' mother's hopes up that her baby was still alive.

 

Honestly, Keith had no idea what all the fuss was. He had no idea how everybody's boxers ended up being taped to radio antennas with holes in them. He didn't even have a single clue how the soldiers ended up getting dyed blue while they were showering.

He could truthfully say that he was oblivious to these facts with a grin on his face. But he didn't have to. Right now, they were more concerned with getting him off of the blades of the large aircraft they used to carry people and vehicles. Apparently seeing a survivor on one of them, hanging upside down while whooping for joy was a bad thing and needed to be stopped.

 

Hearing threats and yelling coming his way as they glared from below, he gave in, not really feeling like retaliating, he sat up on the blade, preparing to get down, taking one look at the sky. “Take care, Ellis.” He said to the clouds as they passed. “Meet 'chu soon.” He knew Ellis would make it there safely. After all...

 

Ellis never lied.


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter 10

(Memory Begins)

“What'cha readin' Nick?” Ellis asked as he slung himself on the back of the old broken couch that Nick was currently residing on. Nick had found a book earlier and once the four survivors made it to the nearest safe room, he didn't hesitate to open it. Quickly flashing the cover to the younger man, Nick resumed reading. Ellis smiled widely, teeth shining brightly.

 

“Star Trek? Didn't know you were a sci-fi kind of man.” Ellis joked, poking Nick in the head teasingly. The conman shrugged and slapped the offending finger away, still reading. “I'm not,” he answered bluntly. “But this one has my attention.”

Clicking his tongue, Ellis just watched as the older man read the book. After a moment of silence, he spoke up. “You know, you should have seen th' movie. I liked it better than th' book.” He stood back up to full height off the couch. “I know what's gonna happen but I ain't gonna spoil it for ya'. Ya' know, Keith an' I grew up with Star Trek. That show helped me get good grades in school.” Ellis knew he was bragging, but he was so proud of that fact. Nick chocked out a laugh, his eyes never leaving the pages of the book.

“You getting good grades? Will wonders never cease. Next, you'll be telling me that you wore a dress to a tea party.” The snide comment Nick made caused the proud smile Ellis had to fall into a frown. Saying nothing, Ellis looked at the cover of the book then back to Nick. Brows furrowing angrily,he said:

 

“Spock dies.” bluntly. Walking to the room's exit, he turned back to Nick's shocked glare and stated “An' the dress I wore to my five year old niece's tea party was very pretty and the party was invite only.” Then he left with a huff to find Coach and Rochelle.

Growling, Nick slammed the book closed and threw it across the room, hearing it hit the floor with a loud slap, angry at the fact that the hick had spoiled it for him. Yet, despite that, he found himself staring at the doorway with a warm smile.

(Memory Ends)

“You told me he was dead, Nick!” Ellis blubbered, heart broken, eyes glancing accusingly at the conman, Nick bared his teeth. “He was when I saw him. Something strange is going on.” 

“Butterfly effect Nick. They talk about it in a lot of sci-fi movies.” Ellis responded, eyes still shining with tears threatening to spill. The older man snorted. “Tell me later, Kid.” He growled, throwing up as he faced Jimmy Gibbs Jr.

This was like no infected Nick had seen before. Wiping his mouth from the vomit he expelled, He groaned ad Ellis soon did the same. This monstrosity seemed slow but as evidence from earlier experience, it might have the strength of a tank. That was something that Nick was not willing to test. It was obvious that they alone could not take this thing down easily and they needed to get out of there. But fear had frozen his body for he could not even will his own legs to move. As the beast got closer, it made a grumbled noise that sent the man in white to Ellis' death. It was like he was there again, watching helplessly as his friend got crushed; screaming for help as he tried to get his leg out of a whole it was trapped in.

“Nick-Move!” Blinking, Nick was back in the present; right in the monster's path. He was back just in time for him to notice a large wooden beam heading his way and Ellis running right up to him. He could feel the kid pick him up, felt an arm swoop his legs being lifted off the ground and the mechanic holding onto him tightly, running forward and avoiding the beam as it landed on the corpse, both beam and body splattering into many pieces as they connected. All this had happened so quickly that Nick's brain couldn't keep up with what had happened, so he could only blink in reaction.

 

With the stunned man in his arms, Ellis had bolted past the monster through the opening the stupid thing had left open to them and around the corner where he tripped over a broken piece of brick and they both go tumbling to the concrete floor. They landed in a heap; Nick calling out as he landed on his casted right arm and his ribs aching in protest. Groaning, he forced himself into a sitting position as Ellis got off him to scramble around the hall, searching for the gun he had dropped from his back and his sword.

“Damn it! I dropped my katana!” He cried, patting his hips down, trying to hunt for something that was there. Feeling something in his pocket, he relaxed a little bit but not completely. Patting his back, he went back to searching. “My gun! My gun ain't here! It was on my back, now it ain't!” Nick responded by swearing under his breath, pushing himself to his feet, grabbing his torso as it throbbed painfully with his good arm. Once again, the suffocating feeling was back. He couldn't breathe well.

 

“Ellis.” He groaned through his teeth, gaining the mechanic's attention. “There's a magnum strapped to my thigh.” He stated while he indicated to his right leg with his head. “Problem is, I'm right handed. I need you to get it and use it for me.” He was panting for air now. Looking the panicked man in the eyes, he pleaded, “And for God's sake, don't you dare drop it!” Ellis nodded, ignoring the awkwardness of how close they were as he untangled the gun from Nick's gun holster on his thigh. Standing back up, the mechanic checked the gun's ammo slots, pouring the bullets in his shaky hand before looking back up to Nick with an arched eyebrow.

“Don't suppose you have more bullets in that suit of yours, Mr. Fancy Suit?” He asked numbly. Nick snorted and shook his head. “No I don't. So you only have three shots. Make them count.”

 

“I only count two.” Ellis blurted, reloading the gun with the bullets. The conman scowled. “Yeah, whatever. Make them count.”

 

It wasn't long after he said that, there was the groan of the monster that was obviously hunting them but with it's poor eyesight, could not spot Ellis, sadly Nick would stand out clearly with his suit. “We should get moving.” Ellis whispered, breathing heavily. The other man nodded. “Agree and fast. That thing may be strong but it's slow as fuck.” He paused and smirked at the hick who stared back bewildered. “I should rephrase that. Fucking isn't exactly slow.”

 

“We're bein' hunted and you're makin' a joke!” Nick raised his hand in defeat. “Fine, fine. Kid. Let's hurry out of here.” Ellis shook his head and forced a small smile. “Well, follow me ifn' your ol' bones can keep up.” And off Ellis went, down the only path they could go. Snorting at the jab, Nick followed after, doing what he could with what his ribs would allow him. Coach had told him to avoid running if he could for his ribs to heal, but this wasn't one of those moments.

It wasn't long before Nick realized that they had gotten separated but they had lost the infected that had once been Jimmy Gibbs Jr. Downside was, Ellis had his gun. Nick was helpless and alone. Gulping, he slowed to a stop, panting as he looked around the hallway and the empty stores of the mall, looking for any sign of where the younger man had gone. Two decisions came to his mind. There were the normal infected there but they didn't seem to pay him any mind. He could risk them spotting him if he called out for Ellis, or he could sneak around and hopefully find his way back to the safe room unnoticed.

Deciding not to take the risk of alerting the few infected there, he chose to skulking around but first, he needed a rest. Going behind a sideways turned shelf, he sat and panted, hoping the pain he was feeling would flee from him soon or hopefully dull away. He bit his lip as he leaned against it, clutching his torso. What he'd give for a weapon and a health pack right about now. Panting, he rested his head back against the shelf, taking short yet slow breaths of air. He had gotten a rhythm of breathing going and was close to falling asleep when there was a growl. Hearing the unmistakeable sound of a nearby hunter, he sat up right, scanning the surrounding darkness for the infected. Glancing to the left, he saw nothing but darkness; same way on the right side.

Slowly getting up into a crouch, it was then, he found himself flattened on his back with a hunter on top of him, claws held high. He could only hold up his good arm, the one in the cast was tangled between his side and the hunter's leg. He could see that ugly face under the dark hood sneer and scowl as a growl and a roar came from it's sharp toothed mouth. As the infected clawed into him, Nick screamed helplessly as the monster tore into his body. His arm waving around, doing what it could to get the monster to stop. As blood soaked his suit, he wondered if this was how his counterpart felt as he was being killed and torn open. Screaming in pain for help that would never come. To know that he would die and die alone by some monster.

 

He was beyond thinking. Now acting on instinct, he grabbed the thing by it's face, It only stopped to grab his hand and bite down, yanking his head away, taking his ring finger with it, bone and all. He never thought the pain would end. All those times he had been pounced by hunters, not one of them dared to bite off a body part. But then again, everyone was quick enough to free the one down that no one had time to experience that pain. Oh, but he was. A shot rang out and the hunter paused, stiffening, blank face. Fresh blood soaked Nick's agonized face as he held his bloody hand to his chest, crying as the pain seared. Another shot rang out and blood soaked on the hunters hoodie; splattering more on Nick's face before the infected fell to the side, dead.

 

“Nick?!” It was Ellis. The kid was always saving him. Had Nick not been crying, he would have stated loudly that it was supposed to be in reverse. The magnum clattered to the ground as Ellis knelt down beside him and lifted him, holding the conman close. “I'm so sorry, Nick!” Ellis was crying with him now. “I thought you were righ' behind me! I looked for you, I swear I did.”

 

“Ellis,” Rochelle was there behind the mechanic, blocking Nick's view of her. “Sweetie, we need to get him back to the safe room. It's not safe out here.” Slowly, Ellis nodded, picking up Nick, hearing the conman's cries become muffled in Ellis' shirt.

 

Nick didn't know when they had gotten back to the safe room, but he did remember the pain as Coach did what he could to clean his hand and bandage him up really well, doing what little he could to keep the conman from bleeding out. All the while, he was yelling at them.

 

“Of all the stupid stunts you could have pulled! Nick could have died out there, boy! You could have as well! I specifically told yo not to go out alone! With Nick being incapacitated, he was the last one you should have dragged out there! Now look at him! Broken arm, cracked ribs, concussion, and now he's missing a finger along with gaining some new scars!” Ellis just suffered this lecture with his head down, tears dripping from his face like some beaten puppy.

With a sigh, Coach rubbed his face with his hand and gave the mechanic a one armed hug. “Listen, Ellis. You're not the only one in trouble here. Nick is too. And right now, he's paying for it. We are all we have. I worry about you all. That's why I yelled like I did. I don't want to lose any of you, you know that?” Ellis nodded, sniffing as he looked up with blood shot eyes.

 

“Nick will be alright, right?” He asked, risking a glance to the injured man on the couch. “He will be fine. But it's going to be difficult getting out of here now and we're low on resources. We'll soon have to leave and quickly. We need to find that car and refill it. The sooner we get out of here, the better all of us, especially Nick, will be.” Ellis nodded and Coach removed his arm.

Rochelle came over to the two, a few left over bandages in her hand. “This is all we have left, dad. I think we should leave in a few hours.” Ellis' eyebrow rose to his forehead. “Bu' Nick is hurt! We can't go anywhere.”

 

“We don't have a choice.” Coach responded, making Ellis look at him in protest. “Don't worry, we're not leaving him. But he can't walk now. You're going to have to carry him the first few ways and I can take over shortly afterward. But we'll need to move once Nick's awake.” The eldest one there took the bandaged from Rochelle and wrapped them back up and patted Ellis on the shoulder. “Get some sleep. I'll stay up tonight to watch over us.”

Ellis slept on the floor beside Nick, who was jolting in his sleep from muscle memory.


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter 11

(Memory Begins)

The bridge was the most frightening thing that any human being could experience. Nick, Coach, Ellis, and Rochelle just so happened to be in the middle of it. Gaping holes in it while it was swarmed with beat up cars and zombies. Finding the radio before they had to head out onto that same bridge was either a curse or a blessing. The helicopter couldn't have landed right where they were to keep them from having to fight their way through the hordes. Nick remembered that day. Gripping the radio in his hand so hard, he thought he'd break the little plastic thing.

“Bridge, are you immune?” They had asked the four survivors. The conman remembered scowling at the radio; thinking about how big of an idiot the pilot was. If they weren't immune, they wouldn't have gotten that far. But then again, as he looked down at the dead body of the soldier, he thought differently.

“We are NOT infected.” He responded into the machine, taking a look at his fellow survivors; all who looked tired, scared, and dead on their feet. Ellis was holding onto his katana tiredly, already out of ammo from their previous fight with the tank.

There was static from the radio and distant talking before they spoke again. “Negative. Bridge, are you IMMUNE?” Clinching his teeth, Nick growled his answer into the radio. “Yes, we're immune! Get us out of here!”

 

“Negative. You'll have to cross it yourself. The chopper will land on the other side. But hurry, the place is over run with infected. Good luck.” Then it clicked off; dead. Dropping the radio, he turned to face them, all outraged. “Are they crazy!?” Rochelle shrieked. “They want us to risk our lives out there?! Do you see what's there?! Do you see how many of those guys are out there?!” Coach placed a hand on her shoulder, hoping to calm her down. “I know, girl. But we don't have much of a choice. They won't pick us up here, despite how blocked off the infected are from us.”

 

She crossed her arms, messing with her shotgun. “This is stupid! After all we've been through already!” He patted her shoulder remorsefully. Ellis blinked, drooping puppy eyes gazed at Nick worriedly which angered the Conman a lot since the mechanic had that look on his face for the past few hours. “See something you like overalls?” Nick growled to the young man. Ellis just blinked and clicked his tongue.

“I don' have a good feelin' 'bout this, Nick. Somethin's gonna happen.” Nick just snorted in response. “What are you worried about? It's just another life or death fight. No different than before. Just more zombies.” He assured, ruffling Ellis' hat, causing it to go sideways. Unlike all the other times Nick had done that, Ellis snorted and corrected his hat. “What ever you say, Nick. I still don' like it.” He should have taken Ellis' feeling seriously. He should have stayed on guard.

 

Because this was no ordinary life or death fight. This was a complete fight for survival. Not long after the barrier was lowered and they were on the bridge, they all got separated from one another. Coach way ahead with Rochelle slightly behind him, Nick and Ellis in the back with only a car between them. Keep moving! Is what Nick's brain told him. And keep moving was what he did. Legs aching and crying out with the weight he was putting on them.

There was the sound of metal screeching and a grunt, followed by a hiss of pain. Looking ahead, he saw Coach with his leg stuck in the hood of a nearby car, trying to tug it out, both hands gripping his knee as he tugged. Cursing under his breath, Nick ran to Coach with Ellis following behind him.

 

“Shit, Coach! How'd you do this?!” cried the conman as he gripped Coach's leg, noticing the sudden rumbling around them. Ellis held his katana high, looking around the infected and cars, watching as Rochelle got closer through the horde. “I don't know. I was going to jump on this car and my leg went through the hood!” Coach yelled. With one final tug and a screech from the metal, the man's leg was freed as blood stained the metal and the fabric of his pants leg.

“TANK!” Rochelle called out from where she stood. Raising her shotgun, she shot ahead of them. “Holy shit.” Ellis cursed, looking to where she was shooting. Nick turned to see what had them frozen and sucked in a harsh breath of air. Far ahead of them was not one, but THREE tanks; all heading this way. “Boys! Get out of there!” Coach yelled out from where he knelt behind a truck, putting ammo back in his gun.

 

They didn't need to be told twice. The older man's words got through to them and the two bolted out of the way of the first tank that rushed ahead of the other two. Ducking behind a beaten mustang away from Coach and Ellis, Nick gasped as he scrambled into curling his legs away from it's path. Missing all three of the survivors in the area, the thing roared in anger and made an attempt to turn when it slid and toppled over the edge of the bridge, falling to the water below and sinking. Nick gasped for air, looking around for the other two tanks that were on their way when he heard a sound. Following where it came from, he spotted Ellis across a gaping hole, barely having a spot of concrete to sit on. 'How'd he get there?' Nick thought as he scanned the kid's pale face.

 

“Nick!” Ellis whispered urgently. “They're heading your way! You gotta move! Get to Rochelle!” Ellis wasn't kidding. The tanks had stopped a little bit away just in time to see their buddy fall off the edge and to see a white suit hid behind a car. Nick could only nod, too stunned to speak and got up from the ground into a crouch. Or he would if his sleeve didn't get caught on a jutted piece of the door. Growling, he yanked on his arm roughly. This was just enough movement for the large infected to spot him and roared simultaneously.

 

His heart was racing now and his movements became clumsy. Not caring if he ripped his clothes, he kicked the metal, hoping to break it off for him to escape. Next thing he knew, Ellis was right there by his side, using his katana as a crowbar to pry the metal away. “Hey, I'm not gonna leave ya' here!” He had said. Those were the words Nick would never forget.. The machine groaned loudly as Ellis tugged on the handle of the katana. Propping his foot on the door for better leverage, Ellis grunted from the force he was using. Finally, Nick was free but the katana broke at the bade, causing the mechanic to go stumbling backwards into another car, this time, getting his foot tangled in the engine.

 

The hick threw the hilt of the sword away and began to mess around the engine around his foot, ignoring the searing pain of metal, screws, and bolts digging into his flesh. Looking up, the mechanic saw just how close the thing was; watching in horror as it lifted a car and aim at him. It was all Ellis could do to cry out. It all happened so fast. As him, Coach, and Rochelle managed to shoot and kill one of the charging tanks as well as many of the normal infected, Nick heard Ellis cry out and turned just in time to see the car fly through the air and land right on top of it's victim.

 

“NOOO!” 

(Memory Ends)

-Ellis POV-

Blinking, Ellis opened his eyes to the dark safe room from the floor he was on. Sleep hadn't been easy for him lately and nightmares kept him from what little sleep he could get. Sighing, he reached into his pocket and played with the object he had found. It was something the dead Nick had been holding onto tightly in his hands. Letting the object go, he took his hand out of his pocket and sat up, looking at the man on the couch. The man had gotten banged up pretty badly, even more than the others who had just gotten bites and scratches. Looking at the missing finger on the hand that rested on Nick's stomach, he winced. They had gotten separated so easily. He swore he thought the older man was right behind him as they raced back. He nearly had a heart attack when he noticed the man wasn't there, rushing to get Coach and Rochelle, the left and went to hunt him down in time to see the hunter bite Nick's finger clean off.

 

The unconscious man made a whimper as his arms and legs twitched slightly. It was clear that he was having a nightmare. With a smile threatening to appear, Ellis wrapped his arms around the unconscious man, arranging them to have Nick laying against him while the Mechanic sat on the couch. Rubbing the dark hair, Ellis sighed in it as Nick's twitching and quiet whimpering began to slowly subside. “Ah, it's a'right Nick.” He whispered, breathing in the odor that latched onto the conman's hair from the boomer's puke. “We'll get out of here. Jus' sleep.” And for that night, Nick was still.

 

OOO

 

-Nick POV-

Coach's back wasn't the most comfortable thing to ride on but with his legs weak and tired, Nick didn't have a choice. After twenty minutes of riding on Ellis' back, Coach decided to take over pack mule duty, which Ellis tried to refuse. “You've carried him through the hotel. Let me take over for a while.” The elder had soothed. By that point, the lack of sleep had gotten to Ellis and he agreed reluctantly.

“So tell me,” Nick grunted, adjusting himself, legs stretching out in front of Coach; nearly slipping out of the man's hold on them. “Why am I the one getting beat up?” letting his legs go limp once again. Rochelle had the nerve to smile at him and say “Maybe you're just that lucky.” in which Nick responded by flipping her off, causing her to laugh. Coach gave a low growl in defeat. “Does anyone know where exactly Jimmy Gibbs Jr.'s car's at?” He asked.

 

Nick scanned around the oddly empty mall they were traveling through. Not even a witch was heard. His neck hair was standing up which was a bad sign. Last time he'd been here, there were swarms of infected here and at least one tank. Shaking his head, he decided to ignore this for now. At this moment, they needed to get the car, gas it up and fast. “Go up the escalator and look for an elevator. It will lead us to where we need to be.”

 

“'Go up th; escalator and go down in an' elevator.'...Nick that sounds stupid.” Ellis piped up dully, making a face at the stupidity of that sentence. Nick smirked. “I know. But the mall's design is stupid. There's a wall blocking where we are right now and where we need to be. That's the route we have to take.”

 

The mechanic grumbled. “It's still stupid.” A few more steps of silence when suddenly, Rochelle spoke up, pointing in a direction to their left. “There! Are those the stairs we have to take?” Following where her finger pointed, he nodded. “Looks like it.”

 

“Then we better get up there. C'mon.” And on trudged Coach, ahead of everyone else. Rochelle and Ellis traveled behind, guns at the ready. The escalator proved to be difficult for Coach, especially when you have someone on your back. “Come on, Coach,” Nick taunted. “I bet there'll be cheeseburgers on the top floor.”

 

“Shut up, Nick or I'll make you. I can just leave you here.” the elder threatened, letting one of Nick's legs go to grab the rail, taking his time up the steps. Nick found himself wrapping his good arm around the other man to keep him from sliding off completely, doing his best to keep his broken one from damage. Snorting at how uncomfortable and awkward this was, he risked a glance at the two behind him who were covering their mouths in laughter before chortling. Nick scowled. “Yeah, ha, ha. Laugh it up. Just wait until you're the ones incapacitated.” They just laughed harder.

 

The elevator was easy to spot once they got to the top and past the bridge. Coach got in the elevator huffing and puffing as he tried to gently set Nick down on the floor so he could catch his breath. His attempt failed and Nick ended up thumping down on the floor. Hissing, he rubbed his now sore ass with a glare to the older man. Ellis just grinned as he hopped in after them. Rochelle joined shortly after but her face no longer held a smile. Her gun was raised as she looked around with a frown. Pushing the down button, the doors closed as she looked at the floor with the window.

“It's so empty. I don't like this. We should have run into multiple hordes by now.” She bit her lip. “Why is it so......deserted?” The grin fell from Ellis' face as realization stuck him. Nick turned to look out the window at the empty room with Jimmy Gibbs Jr.'s car right there in the exact place he remembered it to be but no zombies in sight.

 

“That is odd. This place should be over run.” Coach stated, raising his gun, motioning for Ellis to pick Nick up, which he did without question. “Keep your eyes peeled. Something's bound to happen.”

 

In his past life, Nick would have responded with a snort and resort “You've been watching too many horror movies.” but he didn't. After what he had seen yesterday, he refused to think as impossible. In truth, this was putting him on edge just as much as the others.

 

“We need to find th' gas. They usually stock 'em around in case since th' gas is taken from th' car.” Ellis spoke up as the elevator doors opened and they stepped out. “Okay. How many gas tanks to we need to find?” Coach asked, cocking his gun. “I'd say 'bout eight. Give or take. Tha' should be 'nough to get us a good distance.” The elder nodded. “Fine. Set Nick by the car and we'll all go after them. Don't go too far from each other though.

The only answers he got were nods.


	13. The Escape

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Another encounter with...(no spoilers)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *Le Gasp!* can it be true?! A new update?! Why yes. Yes it is. I have gotten a flash of inspiration and I will take advantage of it. If it gets messier around the end, then that means I lost it. But I may fix it later. I might also be adding on to this chapter when I get more motivated. But I hope you all liked this chapter. As short as it may have been, it took me over a month to write it. Which is a impressive feat when you're not motivated or inspired to do it.

The silence of the area was nerve wracking. There should have been infected all around the mall, groaning and moaning as they stumbled after the survivors with their teeth and claws barred. The mall was not supposed to be empty, and it put Nick on edge. Left to sit beside and armed with only his magnum full of the only bullets they could find littered around the area, he scanned the empty area, spitting out silent curses each time he turned his head, thinking he had heard a sound, only to find nothing in that general direction. His heart was pounding so fast that he swore that the others could hear it from the upper floors they were at.

"I got one!" Ellis' cheerful cry broke the deadly silence like a knife through warm butter. Nick's head jerked up in the direction his voice had erupted from and saw the hick standing at the edge, pushing his thighs against the glass sides, gas can above his head with the biggest, most stupid looking grin the conman had ever saw; Nick loved it. With pissed facade in place, he snarled.

"Congratulations! You want a medal buddy?" He snorted, lowering his magnum. "We're trying to get out of here, not having a party!" His comment did not fail to remove the grin off the boy's face as Ellis lowered the can to his side.

"Aw c'mon, Nick! Why d'ya have ta be such a killjoy. Just a little fun is all." Nick loved it when Ellis got upset. Each time Nick managed to anger the mechanic, his tanned nose would wrinkle in such a way that it looked like the cutest button, waiting to be pushed. The conman almost laughed at that thought, and just managed to keep his mask in place, waving his uninjured hand as if too shoo the notion off.

"Yeah, yeah. Whatever. Just throw it down already! I'm getting blisters sitting here waiting for your slow asses!" This time, it was Ellis' turn to snort at the comment. 

"S'not good ta throw gas around, ya know. Sides, it ain't easy ta find these. S'not like they kept them all t'gether." Nick grumbled, pinching the bridge of his nose, giving a deep sigh as his headache began to return. "Just throw it down already and go look for more! We don't have time to wait for you to stop playing!" He yelled back to the boy, who just shrugged.

"Okay...Catch!" Nick barely had time to register what Ellis had meant as the gas can went flying through the air at an alarming length, landing right at Nick's feet, leaving the conman frozen and startled. He could not hide this reaction from showing in time. The boy had seen it from where he stood, and smirked proudly as Nick looked back up at him from where he saw on the car. The older man's eyes wondered from Ellis' proud face to trail his arms and torso.

 _"So,_ Nick thought to himself, smirking. _"Those arms aren't just for show then."_ And he chuckled, shakily. "Nice arm!" He called back to the boy, who faltered a little bit, slightly startled at the unexpected compliment from the older man. This time Ellis' proud smirk turned into a genuine grin, rubbing the back of his neck.

"Aw, it wasn't tha' good, Nick. Ya should have seen me in high school." A small red tint formed on Ellis' face, looking away slightly. 

"No, he's right!" Coach piped in, holding his own gas can in his arms and a look of utter astonishment on his face. "Where'd you learn to throw like that, boy? The only people I saw who could throw like that were in sports." Ellis bit his lip, shifting his weight from one foot to the other.

"I was quarterback in our high schools team. We never lost a game, not that I'm bragging or anything." Coach grabbed his chest as if he had been struck. "Boy, you had one of the most important jobs in the game. You have a right to brag if you never lost." Ellis just shrugged, losing interest in the conversation.

"Guys! Enough man talk! We have a job to do." Rochelle chimed in, her own gas can in her arms, lips slowly twisting into a humorous smile. "Now stop talking about silly sports and get the gas to Nick." She leaned over the railing. "Can you get that in the car?"

Coach brought his hand to his chest as if her comment had wounded him. "Girl, football is not a silly sport. It is the heart of our country."

"And the bane of my existence!" Nick cried back to them, grumbling as he took the gas can and struggled to pour it in the vehicle with his ribs and damaged hand. "Stop yapping and get more, I don't like how quiet this place is."

"Calm your breeches, Nick! None of us like it. Just trying to ease our nerves." Coach called back, huffing as Rochelle tossed her gas can over the glass railing but unlike the one that Ellis threw, it only went a few feet and landed on the floor with a 'thump!', making her frown and Ellis chuckling quietly.

"It's alright Ro. Not everyone can throw that far. Takes training." Ellis assured, patting her on the back lightly. "I'll go get it." Then he dashed to the stairs and descended and trudged to the gas can with loud, heavy foot steps. Picking it up, Ellis grinned and tossed it over to Nick who filled the car up with it.

_"Hey Nick...We're friends, right?" The question Ellis had thrown at him caught the conman off guard as the older man paused in the middle of cleaning his gun to turn to the hick, who was staring at him with such bright eyes that shone. At the time, the look would have irritated Nick. He didn't know why the kid pissed him off so much back before Ellis' death. And as such, he acted accordingly, with a snort and a twist of his nose in disgust as he went back to cleaning._

_"I don't know." He had ground out that day. "You tell me since you seem to know EVERYTHING." Ellis had just responded by looking like a wounded puppy with that pout of his.  
"Well...I just figured that we were since the apocalypse and everything...helping each other and everything." The hick drawled out, scratching the back of his neck, kicking his boot against the floor while Rochelle and Coach slept nearby. Nick had only hummed, having no desire to respond to the boy.  
That was the first week he had with the youth._

**BWOOOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!!!** The bone chilling noise erupted like thunder, ripping through the silence the room had, forcing all the survivors to freeze where they stood, straining their ears to the direction the noise had come from.  
The car had already taken three out of eight gas cans.

"What....was.....that?" Rochelle asked, holding another gas can tightly, looking all around along with the others as Ellis pulled out a shotgun that he had found earlier when they started hunting for the gas. Nick brought his magnum back to his face, his eyes wide as they scanned the area. He knew that sound.  
He fucking knew that sound.

That fat, lumbering mass of flesh and organs that used to be Jimmy Gibbs Junior before the infection that he and Ellis had found eating Nick's counterpart, had found them; followed them from the safe room to this very location, wanting a taste for the remaining survivors.

"I don't know. But keep close. It didn't sound good." Coach warned, going down the stairway. "Whatever it was, it sounded close. Be on your guard."

Coach didn't need to repeat himself. Everyone was already sticking as close to each other as they could, aside from Nick, who remained where he was sitting beside the vehicle. They crept on deft feet as they wondered down the steps. No sound had been made as they moved. Step by step, the place was painfully silent as it had been when they arrived in the area. It wasn't until Ellis, who was the last to get off the stairs, set foot on the bottom floor, that another blood curling roar erupted, echoing about the room as the large, lumbering form of what had once been Jimmy Gibbs Jr.

"Shit!" Ellis cursed, which couldn't have been timed any better as the large, lumbering form of the infected Race Car driver came into view, looking larger than ever. Coach and Rochelle, turned green at the sight of the creature and looked as if they were going to vomit, chosing instead, to gasping.

"Shit, what is that thing?!" Rochelle squeaked out as Jimmy Gibbs Jr. turned and spotted them; its face twisting into a demented snarl as it growled.

"It don't matter! RUN!" Ellis' yell was all the inspiration needed as the group booked it. The monster roared a blood curling roar, its sound was wet and grimy to the ears as it ran to the survivors at an alarming speed, attempting to force its huge form on the stairs with tentacles that stuck from it's back. The metal supports of the stairs groaned as it climbed them, blocking the way of the three.

Nick could only watch in horror as his team screamed, trapped on the upper floor, Ellis calling for help was the only thing that snapped him from his fear. Snarling, he crawled closer to the monster as it slipped slightly. Nick made it to the closest booth, holding his chest and panted, his cracked ribs protesting the movements that he had made. Taking no time to allow the pain to fade, he aimed his magnum, knowing that he would have made himself a target to the creature's wrath, he aimed at it's head.

"Fuck off you cannibal freak!" And he fired. The whole world seemed to go in slow motion as the bullets flew to the lumbering form, the creature moving at the last second, making the bullet to embed itself in the infected's shoulder rather than its head. Roaring out it's pain, it turned it's body to see what had harmed it and shrieking as it spotted Nick, who stared at it dumbly as his body went cold.

The conman hadn't had any time to react as the monster jumped from the stairs, making a disgusting splat as it landed, one tentacle reached out and grabbed Nick by his leg and yanking him upward sharply in the air, waving him about as it roared. Nick cried out, holding tightly to the magnum in his hands, the force of the swings making him gasp as the wind brushed past him like a hurricane. No longer could he see anything clearly as the world blurred around him. His mind had also gone dizzy as his hold on the gun loosened suddenly finding himself slammed to the floor, hearing an alarming sounding crunch and pain flared through his body that his voice broke off, no longer able to make a sound.

"NICK! NO!!!" Who's cry was that? Nick didn't know as he hung limply as the monster lifted him up by his leg, only to slam him back down. The conman couldn't feel anything anymore. Was he dying. 

"Let him go, you son of a bitch!!!" The sound of thunder and the pained cry from the monster.

"Got another one! Need two more!"

"I'm coming, girl!"

"DROP HIM!" Another boom of thunder and another cry. Soon enough, Nick found himself go flying through the air once again, landing on a pile of something......squishy.....dead bodies maybe.

"Where's the last one?!"

"I got it!" Hands were on his body. The pain flared through him and Nick couldn't hide the whimper that escaped his weak mouth.

"Get us out of here!" That person sounded closer to him, feeling himself floating and strong arms wrapping around him. "You'll be okay, Nick..." The voice shook, sounding close to crying. "Yer gonna be alright..."

The conman could only groan as his mind blackened once more and his body drooped, ready to give up.

_"Nick," It seemed so long since he last heard these words spoken. "Love you brother..."_


	14. NOTE! Please read!

Nobody panic. This story is still being worked on. I am just having trouble finding the energy and the motivation to write but some of my stories already have been started on their next chapters. Please be patient and Know I am still working on them.

**Author's Note:**

> This story is a little old so please go easy with me on it. Still no beta.


End file.
